Mystery surrounds the death of a Queensland woman whose remains were found in dunes at a New South Wales beach, hundreds of kilometres away from where she was last spotted.
NSW police have launched a homicide investigation into the death of Wendy Hansen, who vanished six months ago.
The 63-year-old grandmother was captured on CCTV withdrawing cash from an ATM in Monto in Queensland’s Burnett region, west of Bundaberg, on 29 February, investigators said on Thursday.
Hansen failed to return home and could not be contacted, triggering an investigation by Queensland police.
They tracked down further footage of her from the same day when she was seen driving south on the Bruce Highway near Wild Horse Mountain, north of Brisbane.
She was driving her silver 2007 two-door Mitsubishi Pajero with Queensland number plates at the time of the sighting, which was about 400km away from Monto.
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Nearly four months later, the then-unidentified remains were found in dunes at Jetty beach in the NSW north coast town of Coffs Harbour, triggering a nationwide search of missing-person records.
The remains were dressed in a Bras N Things-branded singlet top and blue denim jeans when they were found half-buried in the bushy area.
The body has since been identified as Hansen’s and NSW homicide detectives have set up a strikeforce to investigate what they describe as her “highly unusual disappearance” and suspicious death.
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Police are particularly keen to track down her four-wheel drive, which has not been found. Coffs Harbour is a 9-hour drive from Monto over a distance of 860km. The area where her remains were discovered by volunteers is near a regional train station and police are investigating whether she used other modes of transport.
“The trail goes cold from the Sunshine Coast,” the NSW homicide squad commander, Det Supt Danny Doherty, said on Thursday.
They are also focused on the fact Hansen’s phone has not been found. “Obviously that heightens the suspicion,” Doherty said.
A search of the area surrounding where the body was found in June revealed several items of interest, including silver earrings, hair clips, a blue-and-white-striped button-up shirt, reading glasses, a book, a backpack and a wallet.