UPPER Hunter mother and mine worker Trudy Dreyer was murdered by her partner in the kitchen of their remote Doyles Creek home before he turned the shotgun on himself, a coronial inquest has found.
The coronial inquest into the death of Ms Dreyer was held in the NSW State Coroner's Court on Wednesday, with Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes finding Ms Dreyer had been the victim of a murder-suicide at the property on Doyles Creek Road on September 19, 2019.
"This is an inquest into the sad and tragic death of Trudy Dreyer," Magistrate Forbes said in her findings. "Ms Dreyer died as a result of shotgun wounds. "Her partner inflicted those wounds upon her shortly before he turned a shotgun upon himself and subsequently died as a result of a self-inflicted shotgun wound."
The issues in the case of Ms Dreyer's death were uncontroversial, Ms Forbes said.
There was no debate as to the identity, date, place, cause and manner of her tragic death.
But Ms Forbes said a coronial inquest must be held if a person dies as a result of a homicide.
Ms Forbes said Ms Dreyer, 49, and her 48-year-old partner met through work in the mines in 2017, but in July of 2019 her partner was seeing a counsellor about issues in the relationship.
The pair were expected to leave on a holiday to South America on September 23, 2019, but failed to board their flight.
Ms Dreyer's partner had also repeatedly failed to attend work and could not be reached by his employer.
Eventually, after Flight Centre staff were unable to contact the pair about missing their holiday they called the police.
Police conducted a welfare check on September 26 - a week after the pair had died - and found their bodies.
During a search of the property, police found two suitcases that were completely packed with clothing and other travel items.
CCTV footage from the property showed Ms Dreyer's partner entering the property at 4.07am on September 19, 2019. It was the last time he was seen on the cameras.
"Based on the investigation conducted by police, I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Ms Dreyer was shot by her partner before he turned the shotgun upon himself and subsequently died as a result of a self-inflicted shot gun wound," Ms Forbes said.
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