Laura Muckersie was just 20-years-old when two schoolboys found her deceased in front of a stormwater drain at Fairfax Park, near the intersection of Morrison and Fairfax roads in Swan View, on Tuesday 31 July 2001.
Her mother Yvonne shares a harrowing story that no parent can afford to miss. She tells podcast host Neil Poh about the desperate and traumatic crusade to save her teenage child from addiction, and the decades long search for the truth and justice following her suspicious death.
“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," Yvonne Muckersie tells the podcast.
"We did everything at that time that we could do. It captured a huge 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."
A Coronial Inquest in 2004 and 2005 examined multiple suspicious circumstances surrounding Laura's death, but ultimately was unable to determine if Laura's death occurred by means of homicide, suicide or an accident. It is also not known how Laura’s body came to be at the location where it was found.
Acting Detective Sergeant Steve Maybury from the Cold Case Investigations Squad said that until proven otherwise, Laura's death was being treated as a suspicious death.
"We want to know what happened to Laura so we can give a resolution to the family. And if there is someone that's criminally involved, that we can we can prosecute them," he told the podcast.
In particular investigators want to know what happened during a 'missing' 140-minute period the night before Laura's body was found - in between her making a call from a public phone box and her handbag being found on the road a short distance away.
"People who use drugs are naturally suspicious of police, and when something like this occurs, if they have knowledge of what's occurred, they are scared to come forward and tell us what they know, because of fear of repercussions," A/Det- Sgt Maybury 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.”
There is now a $1 million dollar reward on offer for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Laura’s death.
As well as detailing her harrowing experience in the podcast, Yvonne Muckersie delivers a powerful message for anyone tempted to experiment with illicit drugs.
“Look, it's going to sound like a cliche. Trust me, the one second decision you make is going to affect your loved ones, your family, your extended family, everybody. And please listen to what I'm saying - don't do it. Life will never be the same for us. Laura was a sister, a daughter, a cousin, she could have been anything she wanted to be."
Season 2, Episode 5: Laura Muckersie
Laura Muckersie was 20-years-old and described as 170cm tall with a slim build, brown hair, brown eyes
and a stud in her nose.
She lived in Ballajura, and, on the night she was last seen alive, had been at the Darling Ridge Shopping Centre on Morrison Road about 8.45pm. Laura made her last phone call at 9.24pm from a telephone box on Fairfax Road, near Morrison Road that night.
A witness found her handbag near the phone box at 11.44pm on that night.
Cold Case Investigation Squad detectives will today (27 November 2024) be at a mobile police facility at Darling Ridge Shopping Centre, Morrison Road, Swan View, and are urging anyone with information regarding Laura’s death to come forward or to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The Cold Case Western Australia podcast – including the Laura Muckersie case - is accessible on your preferred podcast platform or below:
