Tasmania police news: Man charged with murder after woman found dead in Campania
Police have charged a 38-year-old Campania man with murder in relation to the death of Tassie mum Jacqui Purton on a rural property on Monday. LATEST >>
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Update, 8pm Tuesday March 14:
Police have charged a 38-year-old Campania man with murder in relation to the death of Tasmanian mum Jacqui Purton at Campania yesterday.
Police will allege the man was known to the 37-year-old woman who died from serious injuries after being struck by a car on a property in Native Corners Road.
The man will appear before the Hobart Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
>> READ MORE: Tributes flow for mum found dead in Campania
Initial, Monday March 13:
POLICE are still piecing together the picture as to why a woman was found dead in Campania, after taking a man into custody in the early hours of the morning on Monday.
Police were treating the 37-year-old woman’s death as “suspicious.”
“There are a number of anomalies,” Detective Acting Inspector Bellerive CIB Nick Bowden said.
“The evidence at the scene suggests she’s been hit by a car and for that reason, we are fully investigating it.”
Tasmania Police and emergency services were called to a residence in Native Corners Rd about 3.30am on Monday, following a report of a seriously injured person who had potentially been hit by a car.
“She suffered multiple trauma and she was located deceased by first responders,” Inspector Bowden said.
A 38-year-old Campania man was taken into custody at the scene to assist police with their investigation. No charges have been laid.
Insp Bowden said there were “other witnesses” they were speaking to, but at this stage, there was just one man in custody.
Insp Bowden said he believed the call was made to police communications by someone at the property.
He could not comment on the extent of the deceased woman’s relationship with the man in custody other than that “we believe the parties were known to each other”.
Inspector Bowden said police did not believe that children were at the scene.
A white Holden Commodore sedan has been seized by police and will undergo further examination by both crash investigation and forensic officers.
Inspector Bowden said the Commodore was not registered to the man taken into custody.
He could not say whether the other witnesses at the property spoke about an altercation prior to the collision with the vehicle.
Police officers from the criminal investigation branch, forensic services and crash investigation services attended the scene of the death throughout Monday.
Five marked police cars, two crash investigation vehicles and several unmarked vehicles pulled up outside the rural property, with an ambulance sitting on site.
The white Commodore with a black bumper could be seen at the front of the driveway.
The sedan’s front left bumper on the passenger side was cracked and the front left passenger window smashed.
A number of yellow markers could be seen behind the car tracking down the driveway, a cluster was together further up the driveway towards the property. There was broken glass on the ground near one of the markers.
Police launched a drone to survey the crash site as part of the investigation.
There’s little to no phone reception on Native Corners Road just outside the address and the property is surrounded by farmland and native bush, with few houses.
“Our investigation is ongoing,” Inspector Bowden said.
“We’re still in the very early stages.
“Our thoughts go out to the family and the loved ones of the deceased at this difficult time.”
Anyone with any information should contact police on 131 444 or report to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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