were found in the water off Port MacDonnell <\/a>on Monday.<\/p>\nThe discovery prompted a desperate search for Ms Wright\u2019s three-month-old son, who is yet to be found but is also believed to have died.<\/p>\n
Police announced late on Wednesday afternoon that after \u201ccareful consideration\u201d the search for the baby boy had been called off.<\/p>\n
Police on Wednesday morning revealed they were treating the incident as a murder-suicide.<\/p>\n
Later in the day, a police spokesperson further revealed Ms Wright had contact with police just hours before she died.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Australia Police can confirm Helena Wright attended the Mt Gambier Police Station on Sunday 26 July where she spoke with police,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice can also confirm as a result of a call from a friend received at about (9.28am) on Monday 27 July a patrol conducted a welfare check at the home address of Ms Wright. No one was located at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said at about 11.15am, members of the public reported a vehicle had been parked, with its engine running but no one inside, at Cape Northumberland, near Port MacDonnell.<\/p>\n
The body of Ms Wright and her daughter were subsequently located.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs this matter is now subject to a coronial investigation, SAPOL will provide all relevant information and evidence to the coroner,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not appropriate to comment further while coronial proceedings are underway.\u201d<\/p>\n
It came after reports Ms Wright had attended the Mount Gambier police station on Sunday and had been turned away and told to return on Monday.<\/p>\n
Just before 5pm on Wednesday, police released a statement, saying the search for the missing baby boy had been suspended at 4.30pm.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on expert advice and available information, the infant could not have survived the period of time that has elapsed, either in the water or on land,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdditionally, a range of factors, including the search environment and prevailing weather conditions, significantly reduce the likelihood of locating the infant in the immediate term.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile formal search activities have ceased, SAPOL will continue to co-ordinate shoreline monitoring and inspections across the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police earlier on Wednesday had said there was \u201czero\u201d likelihood the missing baby boy would be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important we get that information out because we understand the strong community and media interest in this investigation and in this matter,\u201d SA Police Superintendent Trent Cox said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have needed to conduct preliminary aspects of the investigation in order to reach a stage where we can make that statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coronial investigation continues. We will be providing a report to the coroner.\u201d<\/p>\n
The body of the missing three-month-old is yet to be found. <\/p>\n
Superintendent Cox said \u201cdecisions will be made later today as to continuing with the formal search operations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever decision is made, we will still continue to scour the foreshore in the coming days and possibly weeks,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a situation where we need to be cognisant of the welfare of our officers and all those assisting us with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe privacy of the family is paramount, we ask that you respect their privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Superintendent Cox couldn\u2019t \u201cconfirm or deny\u201d whether Ms Wright had made contact with police prior to the incident. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe investigation of any death is very delicate but when it involves children as young as 23-months and three months it adds another layer of complexity but also trauma for those that are involved,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
After three days of searching, he said the boy would likely not be found alive.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe reality is after three days, the chances of finding the baby are zero sadly,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a retrieval effort but we don\u2019t know where he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police will decide later on Wednesday if the water search for the baby boy would continue, but said shoreline monitoring would remained ongoing.<\/p>\n
A report will be prepared for the Coroner.<\/p>\n
Port MacDonnell search called off because of poor conditions<\/p>\n
The search for the baby was called off because of poor weather conditions on Tuesday afternoon and was set to resume this morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, today we have not been able to locate the boy but we will resume the search tomorrow in the morning,\u201d SA Police Superintendent Trent Cox said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conditions out there were extremely challenging today with very high winds, and did not enable us to get all assets on the water, so today\u2019s search has been confined to land searches.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Cox said police had not yet determined how or why the trio ended up in the water and police were considering all possibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are keeping a very open mind as to the circumstances that led to the mother and daughter being in the in the water and the other child being missing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said on Tuesday investigators had spoken to Mr Wright, the children\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a tragic set of circumstances and, as you can appreciate, there\u2019s an active search underway and we have investigators examining the full circumstances,\u201d Mr Stevens said.<\/p>\n
Mr Stevens said police could not confirm if the incident was a murder-suicide, as officers were still gathering evidence, including conducting a comprehensive investigation into the family\u2019s prior interactions with police and support services.<\/p>\n
The tragedy unfolded before emergency services were called to Cape Northumberland Rd when a vehicle was located with its engine running around 11:15am on Monday.<\/p>\n
After arriving on scene, police found the bodies of Ms Wright and her daughter in the ocean.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe officer attended there, made some inquiries around the vehicle but subsequently sighted what he believed to be the body of an adult floating in the water,\u201d Superintendent Trent Cox, officer in charge of Limestone Coast Region, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShortly afterwards he noticed a second body which looked like that of a small child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do hold grave concerns, the [baby boy] is less than one year old, in any conditions that would cause great concerns about the child\u2019s ability to survive \u2026 so we\u2019re keeping an open mind about everything but I don\u2019t hold out great hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two local fishermen helped emergency crews retrieve the bodies of Ms Wright and her daughter from the water on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mother at the centre of an investigation into a tragic murder-suicide in the state\u2019s South-East attended Mount…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[56976,69241,69267,69251,41391,69219,37425,69234,69253,49536,69223,69261,36695,69232,69272,69221,45795,39612,36783,36958,69254,42345,65701,37726,69245,42256,69216,69217,40351,69239,52146,37232,57092,69252,9296,22,21,69277,69095,4543,69226,38242,69224,69249,2717,6595,48849,69218,49866,69278,69265,69093,69273,40616,69275,18575,69256,38590,43591,46673,69229,37532,59738,69242,69258,36526,69240,69268,22672,28336,38649,69243,69266,53930,1047,69233,69264,66123,69230,69263,69215,69225,3079,1056,69211,1055,69257,69269,69246,38272,19816,69228,69220,56591,69260,45310,69279,69212,69236,38083,50432,36649,48957,62485,41022,42680,69214,69210,36756,36700,69247,69231,69244,69237,36531,69274,41012,36957,69276,69227,69271,40467,43114,69235,69222,48599,63028,37118,48951,36692,69270,45954,37964,36522,69238,37514,69250,69255,69262,69213,52128,36687,37242,49153,53762,36894,31666,36657,22629,36985,69248,22441,10601,69259],"class_list":["post-60901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-tiser-promo-banner","tag-s-south-east","tag-s-three-month-old-son","tag-careful-consideration","tag-41391","tag-4-30pm-aa-subscriber-exclusives","tag-5pm","tag-9-28am","tag-a-3-month-old-boy","tag-a-call","tag-a-coronial-investigation","tag-a-desperate-search","tag-a-friend","tag-a-mother-and-daughter","tag-a-murder-suicide-later","tag-a-patrol","tag-a-police-spokesperson","tag-a-range","tag-a-report","tag-a-result","tag-a-retrieval-effort","tag-a-situation","tag-a-stage","tag-a-statement","tag-a-tragic-murder-suicide","tag-a-vehicle","tag-a-welfare-check","tag-about-11-15am","tag-afternoon","tag-all-relevant-information-and-evidence","tag-all-those","tag-an-investigation","tag-another-layer","tag-any-death","tag-articles","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-available-information","tag-cape-northumberland","tag-children","tag-complexity","tag-contact","tag-continuing","tag-coronial-proceedings","tag-death","tag-decision","tag-decisions","tag-expert-advice","tag-factors","tag-formal-search-activities","tag-heartbreaking-detail","tag-helena-wright","tag-her-23-month-old-daughter","tag-her-daughter","tag-her-young-daughter","tag-hours","tag-its-engine-running","tag-july","tag-just-hours","tag-land","tag-later-today","tag-members","tag-monday-27","tag-monday-just","tag-monday-the-discovery","tag-morning","tag-mount-gambier-police-station","tag-ms-wright","tag-mum","tag-murder-suicide","tag-no-one","tag-off-aa-app-download-boxpolice","tag-ongoing-a-report","tag-our-officers","tag-police","tag-poor-conditionsthe-search","tag-poor-weather-conditions","tag-port-macdonnell","tag-port-macdonnell-cliff-fall","tag-port-macdonnell-the-body","tag-preliminary-aspects","tag-prevailing-weather-conditions","tag-reports","tag-sa-police","tag-sa-police-superintendent-trent-cox","tag-sapol","tag-shoreline-monitoring","tag-shoreline-monitoring-and-inspections","tag-south-australia-police","tag-stories","tag-sunday","tag-sunday-26","tag-superintendent-cox","tag-that-information","tag-that-statement","tag-that-time","tag-the-baby","tag-the-baby-boy","tag-the-bodies","tag-the-body","tag-the-boy","tag-the-centre","tag-the-chances","tag-the-coming-days","tag-the-conditions","tag-the-coroner","tag-the-coroner-aa-port-macport-macdonnell-search","tag-the-coronial-investigation","tag-the-day","tag-the-family","tag-the-foreshore","tag-the-formal-search-operations","tag-the-home-address","tag-the-immediate-term","tag-the-incident","tag-the-infant","tag-the-investigation","tag-the-likelihood","tag-the-little-baby","tag-the-missing-baby-boy","tag-the-missing-three-month-old","tag-the-morning","tag-the-mother","tag-the-mount-gambier-police-station","tag-the-mt-gambier-police-station","tag-the-period","tag-the-privacy","tag-the-public","tag-the-reality","tag-the-search","tag-the-search-environment","tag-the-spokesperson","tag-the-state","tag-the-statement","tag-the-strong-community-and-media-interest","tag-the-water","tag-the-water-search","tag-the-waters","tag-the-welfare","tag-their-privacy","tag-this-investigation","tag-this-matter","tag-this-morning","tag-three-days","tag-three-months","tag-time","tag-today","tag-tomorrow","tag-trauma","tag-tuesday","tag-very-high-winds","tag-wednesday","tag-weeks","tag-zero-likelihood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}