Dying Rose | Coroner moves in after mum Lasonya Dutton found being eaten by dogs in remote NSW town

A distraught dad was left with haunting unanswered questions after his daughter’s body was found being eaten by dogs – but now he has fresh hope for answers.

The Advertiser’s investigation into the death of a mum whose decomposed body was found being eaten by dogs in her family’s backyard is set to form part of a coronial inquest, it can be revealed.

The family of Barkindji woman Lasonya Dutton, 31, slammed the response of NSW Police after her death in March 2022, saying it was “poorly investigated” and left them searching for answers.

Lasonya is one of six Aboriginal women whose stories are being investigated in Dying Rose, a podcast two years in the making, in which their families question whether police properly responded to their deaths.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains images and voices of people who have died.

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Listen to the podcast here, or find Dying Rose on the Apple Podcast app.

Lasonya had not been seen or heard from in four days before her body was discovered lying in plain sight, just four metres from the family’s kitchen window in the remote NSW town of Wilcannia.

Keith has spent more than a year asking police how his daughter could possibly have been there for so long without her family seeing her.

He believes that, within hours of arriving at the horrifying scene, police ruled Lasonya’s death to be suicide and did not interview key witnesses who could have provided information.

Now, two weeks after Dying Rose’s launch, the NSW Coroner has requested documents from The Advertiser to form part of an inquest into Lasonya’s death.

Among them are interviews with Merle Dutton, Lasonya’s uncle, who was the one to discover her body.

Keith Dutton has spent months searching for answers after his daughter’s death. Picture: Dijana Damjanovic

Merle said NSW Police never formally interviewed him after Lasonya’s death, and the only time he spoke to officers was “when they asked him to leave” the home.

“I looked and I spotted a dog chewing on what I thought was a kangaroo, but it wasn’t a kangaroo,” he said.

“I didn’t think anything of it until I got up a bit closer, then I realised it was a human being. I just ran out screaming and screaming.”

He said officers and major crime detectives did not ask for a formal statement from him or other family members who all had information about Lasonya’s whereabouts and who she was with before she died.

Also requested by the coroner were interviews with Lasonya’s father, Keith Dutton, who said his attempts to provide information to NSW Police were dismissed.

Keith said he heard a bloody knife had been found at the town’s oval, but this was never investigated.

He believes that two people known to Lasonya could have killed her and used a pram to transport her body down an alleyway behind the family home, hiding her in the darkness of night.

Keith said they could have attempted to place her body inside her house but, when they could not get in, staged the scene in the backyard to make it look like a suicide.

He said he attempted to present this theory and the information he had gathered to police, but said officers “didn’t want to hear it”.

Keith believes there is more to Lasonya’s death that police did not uncover. Picture: Supplied by family

Keith hopes that a coronial inquest will help find answers for his family. Picture: Supplied by family

The NSW Coroner has also requested The Advertiser’s interviews with Ingrid Bugmy, who lives across the road from the Duttons’ house.

She said she saw two people appearing like they “wanted to get in” to Lasonya’s home on the night before her body was found. This was two days after she was last seen.

“I just thought it was just strange. It was really strange for me for someone to stand on that side of that window … and then the next day they find a body there,” she said.

In a statement to The Advertiser, the NSW Police said they had engaged with Ms Dutton’s family on a number of occasions following her death – an assertion Keith denies.

“Officers from Barrier Police District commenced an investigation into the death of a 31-year-old woman on Tuesday 29 March 2022 under Strike Force Moay,” the statement said.

“The investigation has explored various lines of inquiry regarding the circumstances of the woman’s death, which will be included in the report to the Coroner.”

With an impending coronial inquest, Keith has found new hope – and believes his family may finally find answers.

Originally published as Dying Rose | Coroner moves in after mum Lasonya Dutton found being eaten by dogs in remote NSW town