Laura Muckersie cold case: Police appeal for fresh information for woman’s body found in Swan View drain

The suspicious death of a young woman found in a Swan View water drain more than 20 years ago has been thrust into the spotlight once again as police appeal for fresh information. Laura Muckersie, 20, was found dead in a stormwater drain at Fairfax Park by two schoolboys on July 31, 2001. Ms Muckersie — whose life had descended into drug addiction — was last seen at Darling Ridge Shopping Centre the night prior at about 8.45pm before she made a phone call at a telephone box on Fairfax Road at 9.24pm. More than two hours later, a witness found her handbag metres away from the Fairfax Road phone box. A 2004 and 2005 coronial inquest examined the circumstances around Ms Muckersie’s death. Still, it was unable to determine whether she was murdered or died by suicide or accident. Now, cold case detectives are treating Ms Muckersie’s death as suspicious. Detective First Class Constable Jayson Navarro of the cold case squad said determining what happened in the 140 minutes between Ms Muckersie’s last phone call to the moment her handbag was found was the “key to solving the investigation”. “Police do believe that there’s someone out there with the information that could help, and that’s why we’ve offered a $1 million reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for the death of Laura,” he said. Det-Const. Navarro said Laura’s body was found in a suspicious position in the stormwater drain at Fairfax Park. “It’s still unexplained how (her body) got there, so that’s why we’re appealing today for someone to come forward and help explain how Laura’s body arrived at that location.” “Laura’s body was found partially in the water, right at the bottom of the storm drain at Fairfax Park, laying across the drain. “It’s not a position that we believe that she would have fallen - we believe that it’s more likely that Laura was placed in this position”, said Detective First Class Constable Jayson Navarro. Cold case detectives gathered at a mobile police facility at Darling Ridge Shopping Centre on Tuesday and were taking questions from the public in a bid to generate fresh leads. Ms Muckersie also made several phone calls from a phone box outside the shops on the night her handbag was found. “It’s been two decades later, and you know, it’s still really painful for the family, and that’s why we’re here today to appeal for information and get them some closure,” Det-Const. Navarro said. Ms Muckersie’s mother, Yvonne Muckersie, said her daughter’s drug addiction had “destroyed” her family. “I spent a lot of my time paying drug dealers who’d ring up and threatened to firebomb my house, working to pay her drug debts to keep her away from crime or the streets,” she said. ”We did everything at that time that we could do. “It captured a considerable part of our family life, and it absolutely destroyed it. “You have to stay on the path of trying to save your kid’s life, which is what I was focused on.” Acting detective sergeant Steve Maybury urged any potential witnesses considering speaking to police that their information would be kept in “strict confidence”. “People who use drugs are naturally suspicious of police, and when something like this occurs, if they know what’s occurred, they are scared to come forward and tell us what they know because of fear of repercussions,” he said. “I just want to assure anyone who’s listening to this that as long as they’re not directly involved in causing Laura’s death, any information will be treated in strict confidence.” WA Police have since launched a new podcast about Ms Muckersie’s death in a bid to obtain more information.