By Erin Pearson
Victoria Police repeatedly refused requests to use a helicopter to help search for a missing grandmother in the weeks before the woman’s body was found under a tree near Wycheproof in the state’s north-west.
A coroner is to examine decisions made by officers in the search for Colleen South, after the 58-year-old was found dead more than a month after she was reported missing in her home state of South Australia on July 4 last year.
Colleen South was found dead in a Victorian paddock in August 2022.
South told friends and family before she disappeared that she planned to move between addresses in Adelaide.
Coroner David Ryan was on Monday told South hired a truck with a plan to move to the Adelaide suburb of Queenstown in early July 2022.
Three friends were to help her move and on July 2, a CCTV camera recorded her driving her silver Hyundai Getz from a truck hire rental company in another Adelaide suburb, St Agnes.
The following day, South was recorded on a CCTV camera 550 kilometres away, leaving a petrol station in the Victorian town of Berriwillock, before she drove south along the Calder Highway about 12.15pm.
Colleen South had planned to move addresses in Adelaide when she went missing.Credit: Victoria Police
Her car was later seen about 2pm at Towaninny and at 3.30pm at Ninyeunook.
Then, at 4pm, a witness noticed an abandoned car at a bush reserve in Bunguluke, about 10 minutes’ drive from Wycheproof.
The next day, July 4, the witness called police to report a dumped car. That same day, South’s daughter reported her missing to police in South Australia after learning her mother’s friends had not heard from her.
“On Tuesday, July 5, the witness who had found Ms South’s car went back out to the vehicle and noticed it had been involved in a collision with a culvert and that the airbags had deployed,” barrister Susanna Locke, the counsel assisting the coroner, said in the Coroners Court of Victoria.
Colleen South’s belongings near where her car was found abandoned.
Leading Senior Constable Darin Sheahan went to the scene soon after and took photos of the car. A check of the registration revealed it belonged to South.
Sheahan found three bags, including a handbag and the 58-year-old’s medication, in a neat pile about 20 metres away from the car.
Locke said the policeman requested the assistance of the canine unit, the air wing and other police units, but the request was rejected.
“This request was reportedly denied by the divisional response supervisor,” Locke said.
“Help me please”: The note in Colleen South’s diary her family found.
The coroner heard Sheahan and another local officer searched the area, including dams and farm sheds, themselves. On July 6, police again asked for the assistance of the air wing while their South Australian counterparts requested Victoria Police take primary carriage of the investigation.
Both requests, Locke said, were also denied.
On July 9 – five days after South was reported missing – a canine unit and mounted police branch were sent to the area to assist with the search.
But it took another week before Victoria Police agreed to take over the case.
On July 20 – 16 days after South was reported missing – Victoria Police first despatched an aircraft to the area.
The grandmother’s body was not found until August 8, when a farmer discovered her remains under a tree, 1.5 kilometres from her car.
The pink jacket South wore in the CCTV footage recorded by the service station was later found in a tree hollow, one kilometre from where her body was found. Her shoes were found in another paddock.
South’s family later found a note on the last page of her diary, left at the scene, which read: “Help me please”.
South had a complex medical history, including epilepsy, diabetes, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, the coroner heard.
She was also reported missing to South Australia police nine previous times up to March 2021.
On that occasion, her car was found on a rural property in South Australia. Her daughter later told police South had previously slept on other people’s properties or would walk around and find a tree to sleep under.
The coroner is yet to decide on whether to hold an inquest, but Locke said a coronial investigation would seek to examine the quality of the search and opportunities for improvements, such as the earlier use of police dogs.
The coroner has also requested statements from police to explain the decisions made during the search, the resources used, best practice and the possibility of earlier intervention by Victorian authorities.
South’s whereabouts were the subject of repeated appeals for information while she was missing, as her family travelled to where her car was found and doorknocked residents in the area.
They also expressed concerns about the police search at the time.
Her niece, Farrah Mak, told Nine News at the time of the frustration and anger at the challenges that arose between the two police forces.
Mak said she believed her aunt might have been travelling to visit relatives in Swan Hill.
“For her to go missing like this is totally out of character,” Mak said at the time.
“Our family have been the ones ... on the ground.”
The matter will return to the Coroners Court at a later date.
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