Overview
- Police discovered the body of a 48-year-old woman about 4:30 p.m. Friday in a blue Toyota Yaris parked outside Lake Illawarra Police Station in Oak Flats, and NSW Ambulance could not revive her.
- CCTV shows she entered the station on Tuesday, engaged with officers, then is believed to have moved to the car's back seat around 6:30 p.m., and police say she appeared to be living in the vehicle.
- An officer noted the car had not moved for days and, after breaking a window on the locked vehicle with heavily tinted and dirty windows, found the body under a large blanket.
- Assistant Commissioner Joe Cassar said the woman was in an advanced state of decomposition and noted exceptional in-car temperatures during a regional heatwave, with the cause of death to be determined by the coroner.
- A South Coast critical incident team is leading the investigation with an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and oversight from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, and formal identification is underway.