A woman’s mysterious death near a remote Northern Territory roadhouse is being investigated as suspicious by police, who have arrested her boyfriend.
The Northern Territory Police Force said emergency services received a report at about 5.50am on Sunday that the 27-year-old woman had stopped breathing after the vehicle she was travelling in “allegedly hit a kangaroo” near the Barkly Homestead on the Barkly Highway.
When police arrived they found the woman dead at the scene and arrested a 33-year-old man, who remains in custody. Police believe the pair were in a relationship, and had driven to the Northern Territory from south-east Queensland.
Police allege the pair were in a dark-coloured Jeep Cherokee parked on the side of the road by the intersection of the Barkly and Tablelands Highways between the hours of 1.30am and 5.30am on Sunday.
The couple are believed to have driven the vehicle from Gympie to the Barkly Homestead between April 1 and 5, passing through Ban Ban Springs, Emerald, Winton, Cloncurry, Mt Isa and Camooweal in Queensland.
Police said in an update on Thursday afternoon there was no evidence to support the report of a collision with a kangaroo, and revealed paramedics found the woman suffering from facial injuries when they arrived at 8am.
The man, who is yet to be charged, also had “some injuries” and police said “further evidence” indicated he may have assaulted the woman at about 1.30am.
An autopsy is now underway to determine the woman’s cause of death, and police are investigating whether visible damage to the jeep was “pre-existing”.
Police are now appealing for information or dashcam footage from motorists who were near the Barkly Homestead during the same period, and released an image of the Jeep Cherokee.
Header image: The dark-coloured Jeep Cherokee (NT Police).
