As Richard Thorburn helped to carry the small white coffin of his 12-year-old foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer at her funeral, he also carried the weight of a dark secret that would begin to unravel almost a year later, police allege.
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The chain of events that led Mr Thorburn and hundreds of mourners, many wearing Tiahleigh's favourite colour purple, to the small church in Cornubia south of Brisbane that spring Saturday afternoon last year were as shocking and disturbing as they were mystifying.
On that day, little was known about how the young girl's semi-naked body had ended up on the banks of a Gold Coast river, the victim of an alleged murder.
Tia, as she was known to her family and friends, had lived with the Thorburns for about 10 months before her death, at their two-hectare property in Chambers Flat – a rural pocket of strawberry farms and horse paddocks in the working-class Logan area, south of Brisbane.
She'd had a complicated upbringing, by all accounts. The girl who loved animals and dancing had passed through numerous foster homes in her short life, after her mother had several brushes with the law.
Mr Thorburn, a truck driver turned food van operator, told police he had dropped his foster daughter off near Marsden State High School, where she was a year 7 student, before the morning school bell on October 30, 2015. She did not show up for classes that day.
In the days that followed, as the public appeal for information gradually ramped up, a photo was circulated of Tia, showing her standing in her school uniform with a purple floral backpack draped over her shoulders, her dark eyes smiling at the camera.
Then came a devastating discovery: six days after she vanished, on November 5, three fishermen found Tia's body lying on the banks of the Pimpama River, about a 45-minute drive from her school.
The news sent shockwaves throughout the community, and sparked much soul-searching and speculation about who could kill a 12-year-old child.
This week, the case came to a dramatic head when Queensland homicide detectives returned to the Chambers Flat property and arrested four members of the Thorburn family.
Mr Thorburn, a pallbearer at his foster daughter's funeral, was charged with Tia's murder and with interfering with her corpse.
Police allege Mr Thorburn murdered Tia the night before he claimed to have dropped her off at her school, and dumped her body beside the river to cover up the crime allegedly committed by his 19-year-old son, Trent.
Trent, the police claim, had sex with Tia days before she was killed and feared she was pregnant. The teenage dance teacher and apprentice metal fabricator allegedly sent a Facebook message to a friend stating as much, Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard. He remains behind bars charged with incest, attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury.
Following his arrest on Tuesday, Mr Thorburn collapsed in the Beenleigh watchhouse and was placed in a coma at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital. Police have not confirmed reports he took pills while in police custody.
The remaining members of the Thorburn family had all lied to authorities to cover up Tia's death, police allege.
Mr Thorburn's oldest son Joshua, 20, and wife Julene, 54, have been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury. They have since been released on bail.
Detective Inspector Damien Hansen said this week's arrests were the culmination of an incredibly complex investigation, the course of which changed entirely following an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers in April.
"It is one of the most difficult [investigations] I have been involved with," he said.
"There was no person located at the scene admitting it, it was a real 'whodunit' type of investigation."
Forensic police returned to the Thorburns' property on Friday with heavy moving equipment. They will dig up the yard in the search for any evidence, including Tia's backpack and school uniform which have never been found.
On Friday afternoon, Tia's mother Cindy Palmer wore a shirt that read "Justice 4 Tiahleigh" and appeared close to tears as she thanked Queensland police for working "tirelessly" on the case. She also thanked the public for their phone calls and information, and pledged her daughter's death would not be in vain.
"Obviously I'm extremely upset that the people who were entrusted to look after my daughter are the very people who took her innocence and her spirit and her life," Ms Palmer said. "The only comfort I can take from this situation is they will never hurt another innocent child.
"My other three children will now grow up without their sister and she will forever be an angel. I miss my daughter terribly every day and a piece of my heart is missing."
The month before Tia's death, Mr Thorburn spoke to Fairfax Media's Jimboomba Times about his new food truck business, which he said he had set up to "provide an income stream for his family, which includes several foster children".
The name of the business was Nothing Healthy Here.
Nearly a year after Tia was laid to rest, the very people who had been charged with caring for a young and vulnerable child in the absence of her parents stand charged in connection with her alleged murder.
smh.com.au
