Mother and toddler’s deaths in South Australia investigated as murder-suicide as hopes for missing baby fade

Police say chance of finding missing baby alive ‘zero’ after bodies of mother Helena Wright and toddler found in ocean near Port Macdonnell

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A mother who died in a suspected murder-suicide went to the police station a day before the incident, South Australia police have confirmed.

The bodies of Helena Wright, 36, and her 23-month-old daughter were found in the ocean west of Port Macdonnell on Monday.

Police said on Wednesday afternoon they had ended the official search for a missing three-month-old after “careful consideration”, saying the infant “could not have survived the period of time that has elapsed, either in the water or on land”.

Emergency services were called to the area on Monday after a vehicle was found abandoned with its engine running at 11.15am.

Wright, originally from Estonia, had been living in Compton, a small locality outside Mount Gambier about 26km north of Port Macdonnell.

Police have confirmed Wright visited a police station the day before her body was discovered.

At about 9.30am on the day of the incident, officers conducted a welfare check at Wright’s home after a friend called police. Nobody was home at the time.

The mother and child were found below the cliffs and retrieved with help from local fishers.

Police have spoken to the woman’s husband, the father of the children, and said “based on the evidence currently available, the matter is being investigated as a murder-suicide”.

Land and sea searches around Cape Northumberland, near Port Macdonnell on the Limestone Coast, were conducted for the three-month-old.

“Comprehensive physical search efforts have focused on a sizeable area of water and land, unfortunately the infant has not been found,” police said on Wednesday.

They said hope of finding the infant alive was lost.

“The reality is, after three days, the chances of finding the baby alive are zero,” Supt Trent Cox said earlier on Wednesday.

Cox said extremely challenging conditions had hampered the search, forcing emergency vessels to stay out of the water for much of Tuesday and limiting efforts to shoreline and clifftop sweeps.

“We’ve been unable to … launch water assets. We’ve been able to get the SES aerial drone up,” he said, adding that experts had advised against deploying an underwater drone in the dangerous conditions.

Police they will continue to “coordinate shoreline monitoring and inspections across the coming days”.

The SA premier, Peter Malinauskas, said the tragedy had shocked the community.

“If it involves children, that breaks your heart,” he said on Tuesday.

The incident has been referred to the coroner to examine the cause and circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Police said “there is no information to suggest that any person other than the mother and her two children were involved in this heartbreaking incident”.

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14.