A white canvas shoe holds the key to the mysterious death of a woman in the Blue Mountains, but a court has been told police may never find her killer due to mistakes early in the investigation.
On Friday, the NSW Coroners Court heard DNA on a towel found near the woman’s remains has been linked to a theft in the lower Blue Mountains, but its relevance to the investigation remains unclear.
Police may never find out what happened to Cecilia Devine, an inquest has heard.
Cecilia Devine’s naked body was discovered in Katoomba’s Upper Cascade Creek Dam by a water treatment employee in March 2019.
Devine had vanished six months earlier after travelling to Katoomba from her home in the Newcastle region of NSW in the midst of a mental health episode.
The singer’s last known movements were on September 6, 2018, when she was captured on CCTV footage walking down Katoomba’s main street, where she withdrew $700 in cash, bought gloves and a scarf, and more than a kilogram of bananas from a Coles supermarket.
Cecilia was upset because she could not find a safe place to stay, witnesses said.
The barrister for Devine’s family, Bernard Lloyd, said foul play was a possibility but police mistakes had hampered the investigation.
Police took six months to attempt to obtain CCTV footage from outside the supermarket where Devine was last seen, by which time it had been erased.
Lloyd said the CCTV was critical because Devine was known to seek help from strangers on the comedown from a mental health episode.
“It may be the difference between finding out what happened and never finding out,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd said Devine’s “sensible decisions” to buy food and warm clothing did not fit with a theory of misadventure.
“All of her possessions with the exception of a single shoe are missing. That includes the $700 she withdrew from an ATM within minutes of going missing.”
Lloyd added the police did not appear to have reassigned the missing persons investigation when the officer in charge went on paternity leave in November 2018, meaning the case lay dormant for months. Police processes have since been improved, the court heard.
The only clue about what happened to Cecilia is her shoe, located on the banks of a creek which feeds into the dam.
Detective senior constable Michael Gale admitted he was baffled because it was “extremely unlikely” Devine could have made it by foot to the isolated bushland location where the shoe was found.
Nor did he believe someone was capable of carrying her there.
“We had to bash through bush pretty hard,” he said.
“We had overalls, sturdy shoes, and you’re still getting hit with branches and rolling over on loose debris. ”
Gale was doubtful an orange towel seized nearby was connected to Devine’s death, because he believed the DNA on it was unlikely to have survived in the elements for six months.
The DNA matched samples taken from a motorcycle stolen at Springwood in 2015.
The inquest continues.
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