Man accused of killing OWN sister after her rotting body was found in their home 6 days after she went missing
A man has been charged with murder after his 20-year-old sister’s body was found rotting in their shared home. Lucas Delaney was arrested on Tuesday, June 9, at Cumberland Hospital, in western Sydney, Australia, after police found the decomposed body of his sister, Gabby Delaney, inside the home they shared on Barlow Street, in Cambridge Park.
According to reports, Gabby, who was an Indigenous artist, was last seen on June 3. Police checked into the home of the brother-sister duo after their parents who live in Western Australia raised the alarm after they were not able to reach the victim for days. The reports also claimed that Lucas admitted himself into a hospital, where he remained up until his arrest. The reason behind his admission was not known. On Tuesday afternoon, he was charged with murder and was also refused bail. The 30-year-old suspect is expected to appear in Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday, June 10.
The officers who responded to the crime scene said it was a “confronting” scene. “It was quite a confronting scene, the young lady had not been seen for six days and police who entered the scene described it as devastating, very confronting,” Detective Inspector Jason Pietruszka said. It is believed that the murder was a result of domestic violence. “Domestic violence is a horrendous crime that is a scourge on our community. It's tragic — a 20-year-old girl who's life was before her, cut short. We believe sometime after she was reported missing… he presented himself to Cumberland Hospital," Pietruszka added as reported by the ABC.
It has been reported that the forensic detectives and the homicide squad assisted local police officers in their investigations on Tuesday morning at the crime scene. A couch, believed to be have been stained with blood, along with other evidence was also taken away from the home for further investigation. The exact cause of death is yet to be determined given the length of time the body had been left to rot.
Neighbors of Gabby have shown their shock over the gruesome findings. Brittney Hotchkiss, who is the same age as the victim and lives next door, said: “She was really nice and she was just so young. She was my age and I just couldn't imagine what her family's going through. I'm pretty freaked out. It was right next door so that's a bit scary.” Another neighbor, identified as 22-year-old Paris Stammers, described Gabby as a “friendly, nice girl”. “It's so close to home, she's so young,” Stammers added.
While other neighbors in the area said they did not realize that a murder had happened in their quiet residential street until they saw police cars parked outside. “You kind of say hello to people in passing, but there's a lot of coming and going so it's a bit hard to tell who lives there and who is just visiting. The only thing my daughter said over the weekend was that it was a bit quiet, they normally have a few parties or that kind of thing. We didn't realize anything was up until my wife walked out to put the bins out and saw the police cars. The next minute there was police everywhere, an ambulance, it was all happening,” an unidentified neighbor said.