Arabic version: محقق يوضح ثلاث فرضيات في تحقيق وفاة باترفيلد

According to ABC News, former detective Graeme Eaton told a coronial inquest that he considered three possibilities in the 1998 disappearance of Mossman mother Joanne Butterfield: suicide, travelling south and remaining alive, or foul play while travelling south. He said greater weight was placed on the first two theories.

Ms Butterfield was last seen leaving a home at Mowbray, south of Port Douglas, and hitchhiking late on June 26, 1998. Some of her belongings were found about 160 kilometres away about two days later. Her property, including clothing, a resume and identification documents, was found near a lookout beside a cane railway at Pin Gin Hill on June 28. A ground search of nearby cane paddocks and rainforest followed the next month.

Mr Eaton, who was the lone detective in Mossman when he took charge of the investigation in July 1998, made a national television appeal in November that year. By mid-1999, he had formed the view that Ms Butterfield “wanted to disappear”. His July 2002 final report set out the three possibilities. He told the inquest that foul play had never been definitively excluded.

Questioned about Concetto “Con” Tati, described to the inquest as an “intimate partner” of Ms Butterfield, Mr Eaton said Mr Tati should be spoken to but had not stood out as a person of “great” interest. Mr Eaton said he did not recall checking Mr Tati’s Queensland criminal history or identifying people who required elimination as suspects. Mr Tati and another associate, Michael O’Donoghue, are due to be examined as witnesses. Neither is accused of wrongdoing.

Mr Eaton said there had been a “heavy focus on the suicide” theory, including when a decision was made not to send Ms Butterfield’s belongings for DNA testing. He said he would have been surprised to find biological material after the time that had passed. The inquest also heard that Ms Butterfield’s daughter, Skye Lemon, received other personal effects in an envelope postmarked July 29, 1998, bearing Ms Butterfield’s handwriting. No fingerprints were found on the envelope. The inquest continues.