Pia Akerman
A TEENAGER and her brother were stabbed before their house was set alight killing them, a sister and mother in an apparent murder-suicide.
The violent row that left four unrecognisable bodies among charred remains at the Heidelberg Heights house, in Melbourne’s northeast, spiralled after 36-year-old mother Kylie Maher fought with her 18-year-old daughter, Sammantha Fowler, on Sunday afternoon.
Ms Fowler did not live at the house with her family, but showed up shortly before 4pm with her 19-year-old boyfriend.
He has told police that they went to the back door of the Southern Road property, where Ms Maher let her daughter in but blocked the boyfriend.
He then saw the two women arguing, and tried again to get into the house but was unsuccessful.
After going to a neighbour’s house for help, he returned to his girlfriend’s house where he saw her bleeding heavily.
Again he tried to break into the home, but fire had already taken hold and was starting to rip through the property.
Police and fire crews arrived soon after and forced their way into the burning building, but could not recover any of the family members.
Ms Maher’s other children, an 11-year-old boy, Matthew, and a 13-year-old girl, Melanie, were also killed.
Matthew showed marks of being stabbed with a sharp object, as did Ms Fowler.
Sammantha attended Carrum Downs Secondary College, and was described by friends there as a kind-hearted girl who “just wanted to live her life to the full”.
The bodies were found in three rooms within the house.
It is believed the fire began in the kitchen, at the back of the house. “Police are awaiting further forensic analysis to determine the exact cause of the fire, however it is deemed suspicious and at this stage it is believed a type of accelerant was used,” a police spokeswoman said.
“While post mortems have been completed, the exact cause of death is still not known and (police are) awaiting toxicology reports. This is expected to take up to eight weeks.”
Detectives from the Arson and Explosives Squad are still investigating the case and will prepare a brief for the Coroner.
The neighbours on either side of the house have described Ms Maher and her two younger children as a quiet family who kept to themselves and had lived at the property for only a year or two.
Ms Fowler lived at Skye, in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs, and was not regularly seen at the Heidelberg Heights house.
The redbrick single-level home sits with another house on the block, but they are not rented together.
The initial argument that triggered the violence could not be heard on the busy street, with neighbours unaware of any trouble until the fire took hold.
One neighbour who lives directly opposite the house described seeing a man, presumed to be the boyfriend, sobbing on his knees on the nature strip as he cried for help and watched the flames.
Police are not seeking any suspects over the fire, but are keen to talk to any witnesses or people who tried to help the family who have not yet come forward. Friends have now left tributes outside the front gate of the house, which remained taped off by police yesterday.
Source: www.theaustralian.com.au
