Families of three people killed in crash at Federal speak out one year on

One woman’s bond with her sister cannot be broken, despite a tragic loss that still haunts the family.

Terrified young mum Gypsy Satterley had jumped into Terry Bishop’s car after flagging him down at 4am on the Bruce Highway at Federal, south of Gympie.

She was allegedly fleeing her boyfriend, Rafferty Rolfe, who was driving an Isuzu MU-X he’d allegedly stolen in a carjacking the day before.

As Rolfe allegedly tried to ram the silver Nissan Navara that 65-year-old Mr Bishop was driving, 38-year-old alpaca farmer Jessica Townley was travelling towards them in her Great Wall utility.

Mr Bishop’s car was allegedly pushed into the path of Ms Townley’s vehicle and within minutes Mr Bishop, Ms Townley and Ms Slattery were dead. Only Rolfe survived.

Today, exactly a year after the tragedy, Rolfe is in prison awaiting trial with no date yet set.

Police investigate at the scene of a triple fatality on the Bruce Highway at Federal. Photo: Chelsea Heaney.

He is facing nine charges, including robbery, dangerous operation of a vehicle driving with a disqualified licence and murder. One of the murder charges is a domestic violence offence. This is the story of the families of the alleged victims.

Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Mail, these brave people have opened up about how this shocking incident has changed them forever as they hope their words can help others.

I TEXT MY SISTER TO FEEL CLOSER

Sunshine Satterley still messages her sister Gypsy just to tell her about her day.

Sometimes it’s on special occasions, like her birthday or Mother's Day, but other times it’s just to unload after a big shift at work.

She sends the messages to her sister, even though she knows Gypsy will never receive them.

“At first I would message every day, but now it’s weekly or fortnightly, like I will still message her, if I am going through something I will message her,” Sunshine said.

Instagram image of Gypsy Satterley who has tragically been killed on the Bruce Highway along with two others. Picture Instagram

“I’ll tell her how I’m feeling. Sometimes I will even talk to her, in the passenger seat on the way to work. I know she’s not there but it just makes me feel better.”

But even though it hurts her every time, she says it's a way she can feel closer to her sister.

“It kind of hurts me every time I go to the messages and I always look through our previous messages,” she said.

The day before Gypsy died, she went for a drive with Sunshine.

It’s a day Sunshine will never forget. That was the last time she saw Gypsy.

It was the last time she heard her music. It was the last time she heard her speak.

Sunshine had just gotten a brand new car and she was ecstatic to show it off to her sister.

As Sunshine tells the story, she tears up, thinking about the times she won’t get to have with her sister.

“It still feels like it happened yesterday,” Sunshine said.

“Whenever I needed her she was there. I miss that so much.”

Sunshine said the last memory was one she will always think about.

“She played her music, we had nowhere to go, nowhere to be,” she said.

“We just played our music. It was a good time, I will never forget it.”

Gypsy loved listening to music, she always had headphones in and was always in charge of what was playing.

William said there are so many unknowns around what happened.

Brodie, Sunshine and William Satterley pay tribute to their sister Gypiy. Picture: David Clark

“At the start, there were a lot of what-ifs. As time sort of went on we have just sort of accepted that what we know what we know,” he said.

“It’s a sad thing but that’s all we can do.”

William said he wanted more people to know there were resources out there for support.

William, who is a truck driver, said he drives past the crash site every day.

“It’s pretty painful, it was very hard at the start, to the point I didn’t want to do it,” he said.

“I guess over time, I have gotten more used to it but it’s still rough.”

Sunshine said her sister was such a good person.

“It didn’t just destroy my family, it destroyed two others,” she said.

“I could imagine how they feel as well. It just sucks.

“This wasn’t meant to happen.

This wasn’t meant to be her story. I just feel like it just wasn’t meant to happen.”

I KNEW IT WAS MY DAD’S CAR

Scott Bishop took one look at the photo and knew.

He knew that whoever was inside that twisted wreckage on the Bruce Highway would not make it. He knew the colour, the make and the model of the car in the picture. He knew he had just lost his father.

Scott’s father Terry had been travelling from Mackay to Brisbane for his niece’s wedding, but he never arrived.

Scott got a phone call from his sister asking if their father had reached his house, and then she asked if he had seen the photos of a big crash that had happened on the Bruce Highway.

“I knew his car, I looked at the finer details. I could tell you exactly it was his car,” he said. “I knew before it was confirmed just from the photo and the catastrophic impact of the vehicle in that photo that no one was going to survive.”

Scott Bishop’s dad Terry was travelling from Mackay to Brisbane for a family wedding. Picture: Tara Croser.

The family immediately scrambled to find out what had happened.

“Dad had done that trip a million times like clockwork. He’d get fuel at the same place. He would stop and have a nap at the same place. He could drive it blindfolded,” Mr Bishop said.

Scott’s mother had flown separately but his dad decided to drive as he loved a road trip.

“He was a typical Aussie bloke, he would help anyone if anyone came to him. It was just in his nature to do those sorts of things.”

Terry Bishop was travelling north along the Bruce Highway when the crash happened. Photo Supplied

Scott said he went back to the scene to understand what happened three days later, which was very confronting. A panelbeater for more than eight years, he said he had never seen damage to that extent.

Scott said in his job he sees too many cars coming every day.

“When I went back to work, the first few weeks it was kind of stomach-wrenching to go well, this is the same thing that’s stolen my old man’s life,” he said.

Even after 12 months Scott said it was still “so raw” and he still had many unanswered questions.

“I don’t think it will ever extinguish,” he said.

TYRE MARKS BRING IT BACK

Every morning Troy Wolgast drives the stretch of road where his fiancee Jessica Townley died.

From the left lane, he slows down and looks to his right.

He stares at the marks which still remain on the highway where the cars veered off the road.

His daily commute to work is a constant reminder of what he has lost – the wedding the couple were meant to celebrate on December 6. The birthdays he was meant to share with his alpaca farmer partner and his two kids.

Tragically, the crash that killed his beloved fiancee happened just two days after her birthday.

The marks on the road remind Troy of a feeling he will never be able to forget, the moment he scrambled to find out what happened.

Jessica Townley was killed just two days before her birthday.

“I was at work, her work actually rang me and said, ‘Where’s Jess?’ – I said she should be at work,” he said.

“Then I did the phone calls. It was just not a nice feeling.

“You just felt like you got a kick in the guts, just everything’s been taken away from you.”

Troy was set to marry Jessica on December 6. It was the anniversary of the day they met, and the day they got engaged, and a date that will always be special to him.

“We were together for seven years, we were supposed to get married and we had it all planned,” he said.

“December 6, that is a day I just can’t really forget.”

This year, Troy spent the special day at the cemetery sitting there and talking to his fiancee.

Jess Townley’s fiance Troy Walgast with Montana and TG. Photo: Patrick Woods.

He said Jessica was a loving person who wore her heart on her sleeve.

“She’d help anyone out. She’d do anything for anyone,” he said.

Including his two children, TJ, 8, and Montana, 13.

“She called my kids her own. She didn’t want kids. She had her alpacas for her kids and that. She’d go and buy anything for the kids,” he said.

“She put her own money on the line to go and get things for the kids if they needed, if they asked, or anything like that.”

Troy, who drives a massive pink ute with the words “Jesse’s Legacy” emblazoned on it to raise awareness of domestic violence, has just created a charity.

It’s aimed at helping other families like his.

“It’s taken me nearly 12 months to get it up and going,” he said. “I decided to just come up with the charity, because there’s nothing out there for us.

“Jesse’s legacy is a charity for the poor, innocent people who get killed on the highways and domestic violence, we’re trying to raise awareness for the people.”

If this story has affected you

• Lifeline: 13 11 14

• 1800 RESPECT: 1800 737 732

• Mensline Australia: 1300 789 978

• 13YARN: 13 92 76

•Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636

Originally published as Families of three people killed in crash at Federal speak out one year on