The neighbour of a woman who jumped to her death from a remote ocean clifftop – taking her two babies with her – has broken down as she spoke of the ‘troubled’ young mother and defended the children’s grieving father.
Helena Wright, 36, leapt from Cape Northumberland, six kilometres west of Port Macdonnell, into the raging ocean below on Monday morning, taking her 23-month-old daughter, Hazel, and three-month-old son, Louis, with her.
The bodies of Ms Wright and her little girl were discovered floating in the frigid water soon after, but the boy has not been found despite a frantic and extensive search, which concluded on Wednesday.
SA Police confirmed they were investigating the tragedy as a murder-suicide, and that there was ‘zero chance’ that Louis had survived.
Ms Wright’s devastated husband, Brad Wright, has not been seen since, and is understood to be in the care of his extended family.
The Wrights lived in Compton, a semi-rural suburb on the outskirts of Mt Gambier, 450km south of Adelaide, in a three-bedroom home near the Carinya Gardens Cemetery.
On Thursday, their next-door neighbour broke down to the Daily Mail, revealing she had spoken to Mr Wright on Monday morning, just hours before his wife and children died.
‘He was on his way to work,’ she said, noting that Mr Wright was an electrician by trade.
A neighbour of Brad and Helena Wright has rushed to the defence of the grieving father
Ms Wright leapt to her death, taking her baby children with her, at Cape Northumberland
The neighbours saw no sign that anything was wrong – despite Ms Wright, who is originally from Estonia, presenting at the Mt Gambier Police Station on Sunday pleading for help, for reasons unknown.
According to 7NEWS, she was told to go home and return the following day – but she never did.
Instead, police received a call from one of her friends on Monday morning at 9.30am requesting a welfare check.
The neighbours watched as a SAPOL patrol car pulled up to the house next door.
‘I did not see an ambulance on Monday morning but I did see two police. I heard them banging on the door and they spoke to my husband to see if everything seemed alright,’ she said.
Police confirmed to the media this week that no one was home – not Ms Wright, not her children, and not her white Isuzu M-UX SUV.
In all likelihood, Ms Wright had already bundled her children into the back of her car, and made her final journey: the 30-minute drive south to Cape Northumberland.
The vehicle was reported to police at about 11.15am, parked at the cape with its engine running and no sign of its occupants.
The neighbour described Ms Wright as ‘obviously troubled’
A frantic search for missing three-month-old Louis was abandoned on Wednesday
Soon after, two of the three bodies were spotted in the water, and retrieved by local fishermen.
Gossip has swirled around Mt Gambier, a city of 28,000 people in the state’s south-east, about what could have made a young mother jump from a cliff with her two babies.
Many blamed postnatal depression or psychosis, though authorities have provided no solid evidence that she suffered from either.
In the absence of information, cruel and utterly baseless speculation flourished on social media, where false allegations have been made.
But for the Wrights’ neighbour, the explanation for this abject tragedy is simple.
‘She was obviously troubled and obviously depressed,’ she said.
The neighbour vehemently rejected the false speculation about Mr Wright online, clarifying: ‘Brad was a tremendous father who adored his wife. It’s very disappointing what people are saying.
‘It’s absolutely horrendous. They are very private people.’
Police have pledged to remain in the area, scouring the shoreline, in coming weeks
Through tears, she added: ‘Hazel was the most beautiful little girl.’
A neighbour previously told the Adelaide Advertiser that the Wrights could often be seen outside pushing Hazel on a swing ‘for hours’.
Since Louis joined the family three months ago, he was often ‘strapped to his dad’s chest’.
They said the couple were devoted churchgoers, with Ms Wright priding herself on her garden and making clothes for her children.
Mr Wright has not been seen at the family home since losing his wife and children, and has not been in touch with his neighbours.
‘I have spoken to his family, though, and they are devastated,’ said the neighbour, before emotion overcame her and she ended the conversation.
Police confirmed they considered the case a murder-suicide after speaking to Mr Wright and determining there was no other person involved.
A local said items from the cape often wash up at Port Macdonnell, 6km to the east
Since it was revealed that Ms Wright had attended Mt Gambier police station in some form of distress on Sunday and was apparently turned away, SA cops have been under pressure to provide an explanation.
One local, speaking to the Daily Mail on Thursday, said: ‘There’s a big question mark over the whole thing. And police know more than they’re telling us about what happened at the police station on Sunday.’
‘I went down the street this morning and every third person I came across was having a quiet discussion about what they think really happened,’ the Compton man said.
‘The police know a lot more but aren’t saying anything, and that’s where the conspiracy theories are coming from.’
When asked about Ms Wright’s presence at the police station at a press conference on Wednesday, Limestone Coast officer in charge Superintendent Trent Cox said: ‘I’m not confirming anything or denying anything.
‘We will provide factual evidence to the coroner as part of that brief. Any contact with police will form part of the brief we provide the coroner as part of an investigation.’
Despite calling off the search for Louis, authorities will continue to monitor the shoreline over coming days in the hope they can retrieve the baby’s body.
One Port Macdonnell resident said anything that ‘goes into the ocean’ at the cape often washes up on the fishing town’s picturesque beach.
A tow truck collects Ms Wright’s white Isuzu SUV from Cape Northumberland
She held little hope that the baby would be recovered, noting that sharks patrol the raging currents in the area.
Supt Cox pledged that police would continue to patrol the shoreline in the hope of returning Louis’ remains to his heartbroken father.
Major Crime detectives and specialist forensic officers remain at the scene as investigations continue.
A coronial investigation is now underway, with a report to be prepared for the coroner.
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