Camp Hill: police investigate ‘horrific’ car fire that killed family
Brisbane police refuse to rule out murder-suicide involving ex-rugby league player
A family including three young children were killed in what police have called a “horrific” car fire in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs on Wednesday.
Rowan Baxter, an ex-rugby league player, his wife Hannah and their children aged three, four and six died after the car they were travelling in caught alight, according to police.
Hannah Baxter, who was driving, reportedly jumped from the vehicle. She was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a critical condition but died from her injuries. Her husband and children died at the scene.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Paramedics also treated a passer-by who had “tried his best to get to the car” and suffered some “facial burning” in the process, the BBC reports.
The Guardian reports that a major crime scene has been established around the area, adding that while police have yet to comment on the cause of the blaze, multiple news sources have reported witness accounts stating that Hannah Baxter had jumped from the car shouting: “He’s poured petrol on me”.
Hannah and Rowan Baxter worked as fitness instructors and ran a Brisbane gym named Integr8 Fitness, The Independent reports. The newspaper adds that one employee at Integr8 said the gym was “closed down before December with Mr and Ms Baxter undergoing a marriage separation”.
In recent months Rowan Baxter, who was a winger with rugby league team New Zealand Warriors, had regularly posted photos and videos of his three children, with one post published on 30 December containing the caption “I miss you all”.
On Wednesday morning, Det Insp Mark Thompson stated that the cause of the fire was currently unclear, but refused to confirm that police had ruled out a possible murder-suicide.
“How the fire actually occurred has not been ascertained at the moment,” he said. “For us to call it a murder-suicide or an accident is not appropriate at the moment.”
Thompson said it was one of the most disturbing scenes he had attended.
“It's a horrific scene,” he told reporters. “It will be a horrific thing for police and emergency services to deal with in the coming days.”
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Do youth curfews work?
Today's big question Banning unaccompanied children from towns and cities is popular with some voters but is contentious politically
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Sleaze baack!'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 20 - 26 April
Puzzles and Quizzes Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By Rebecca Messina, The Week UK Published
-
Do youth curfews work?
Today's big question Banning unaccompanied children from towns and cities is popular with some voters but is contentious politically
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Sydney mall attacker may have targeted women
Speed Read Police commissioner says gender of victims is 'area of interest' to investigators
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Armed gangs, prison breaks and on-air hostages: how Ecuador was plunged into crisis
The Explainer Gangs launch deadly revenge after president declares state of emergency following escape of feared drug boss from prison
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ecuador tips toward chaos amid prison breaks, armed TV takeover
Speed Read New President Daniel Noboa authorized the military to 'neutralize' powerful drug-linked gangs after they unleashed violence and terror across Ecuador
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Prague shooting: student kills 14 people at university
Speed reads Police believe suspect, who killed himself, may have shot his father before carrying out mass murder
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published