A small bouquet of wilted roses resting on the banks of the Lane Cove river on Wednesday afternoon was the only sign anything in the harbourside suburb of Woolwich was amiss.
But the typical quiet of one of Sydney’s wealthy lower north shore postcodes belied the horrific discovery passing kayakers had made there 72 hours earlier.
Just before 10am on Sunday the body of a woman was found submerged in the water in a quiet spot where Sydney’s mega-rich park their yachts a few kilometres upstream from the Harbour Bridge.
Fully clothed in a navy long-sleeve jumper and khaki cargo pants with silver bracelets on both wrists, police determined the woman had been in the water for less than 24 hours but initially did not treat the death as suspicious.
It was only later, when the woman was identified as 38-year-old Brazilian national Cecilia Haddad and details of her disappearance started to emerge, that detectives in Sydney’s homicide squad took over the case and began the difficult task of trying to piece together her last moments.
“Cecilia was a very friendly lady with a large circle of friends,” acting detective inspector Ritchie Sim said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
“She was a very well-liked person which poses more questions than answers because we need to know what happened to Cecilia.”
On Friday night Haddad had been at a barbecue with friends close to where she lived in Ryde. She went home and the next morning spoke to friends on the phone between about 8am and 9am.
Then, nothing until her body was discovered in the water 24 hours later.
She’d made appointments – including to meet with a friend – on Saturday, but never showed. A missing person report was filed, but police didn’t make the connection between Haddad and the body in the water until Monday.
On Sunday afternoon police discovered her car – a red Fiat 500 – at West Ryde train station, about 10km away from where her body was found.
But what happened in those missing hours remains a mystery. By Wednesday afternoon the results of a postmortem to determine Haddad’s cause of death had still not been returned, and police were scouring CCTV footage from the Ryde area.
Sim said on Wednesday that officers had seen “some movements” on the footage, but didn’t go into details. Nor was he willing to reveal whether police had any suspects. There were, however, “persons of interest” that police were keen to speak to.
One of them was a male friend of Haddad’s. Police did not say the man was a suspect, but a person of interest that they wanted to speak to.
He declined to answer questions about whether Haddad – who was divorced and lived alone – had spent the night with anyone on Friday night.
Her ex-husband lives in Perth and flew to Sydney on Wednesday to formally identify Haddad’s body. He was “very, very traumatised”, Sim said.
Haddad’s mother still lives in Brazil, and had been informed of her daughter’s death.
“She’s very upset and needing answers,” Sim said.
The difficulties for police trying to solve the case are numerous. Officers were working to the theory that if she met with foul play her body was likely dumped in the water late on Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
But a body in the water means no crime scene, and examining tide charts and currents to determine where Haddad entered the river will be a key focus of the investigation.
Woolwich, where she was found, is an affluent one-street-in, one-street-out kind of place, and police hope that if she met with foul play in that area someone will have noticed. But it’s equally possible she entered the water further up the river, potentially closer to where she lived in Ryde.
On Wednesday police divers were examining the area where she was found, and officers were knocking on doors.
Sim asked the public for assistance to help piece together the movements leading up to her disappearance.
“We’re also seeking the assistance of anyone who has seen that vehicle throughout Saturday morning through to Sunday afternoon,” he said.
“We have been able to capture a lot of CCTV footage and we’re obviously canvassing for witnesses, and were continuing to canvass for CCTV footage and dashcam footage. My appeal goes out to people who may be in possession of further CCTV or dashcam footage.”
Haddad worked for a mining company in Western Australia before moving to New South Wales in 2016 to work as a logistics manager for a freight company, and was most recently living in an apartment on St Annes Street, Ryde.
Mostly recently she’d been working as a consultant for a Newcastle-based rail company, and since August had also been doing casual shifts as a disability support worker for a company called Hireup.
Jordan O’Reilly, the chief executive of Hireup, said he was “saddened to hear the news” of her death.
“She was a bright and valued member of our team; her services and positive approach were much valued by our community,” he said.
“We will support our community members impacted by this incident, offering counselling to those who valued the role Cecilia played in their lives.”
