By Callum Ludwig
This year marks 20 years since the brutal murder of Marea Yann rocked the Healesville community, with Victoria Police announcing a $1 million reward for information on Tuesday 16 May 2023.
Then 69-year-old Marea was found bludgeoned to death in her lounge room at about 9.40am on Tuesday 30 September 2003 by a gardener who came to work at her Juliet Crescent home. Marea was found in her armchair, TV still on, with extensive injuries to her upper body and head. Marea was wearing a red jumper, black pants and slip-on shoes.
Investigators from the Homicide Squad determined she had likely been killed the night before. There were no signs of forced entry and nothing appeared to have been taken from the house, though her purse was found on the floor.
Marea’s last known contact was made at 8.07pm on Monday 29 September, when she spoke to her daughter in Queensland over the phone.
At the time a close friend of Marea Yann told the Star Mail that in the months leading up to her murder, Marea feared for her life. Marea had told the friend ‘I’m scared that one day you will turn on the television news and see that I’ve been killed.’
Marea’s sister and Yarra Glen resident Deanne Green, now 92, visited the Star Mail office recently to help the desperate appeal to find justice and closure regarding Marea’s murder.
Ms Green said she wants to be able to put it to rest and get on with what little life she has left.
“I’m hoping after this that I never have to speak to anybody ever again about Marea’s death, I want to let it go, I want to be in peace and I want her to be at peace,” she said.
“But if nothing comes of it, that’s how it is, you just want a little bit of peace in your life but it’s pretty hard when she’s on my shoulder all the time.”
Marea’s son-in-law Joseph ‘James’ Unumadu, who was married for 13 years to her daughter Pauline, was charged with her murder in 2005. The case went to trial in January 2008 before being acquitted by a jury, with a lot of key evidence being disregarded under strict hearsay rules that were in place at the time. Changes to laws regarding hearsay and double jeopardy were introduced with the passing of the Victorian Government’s Evidence Act 2008 that same year.
Ms Green said she was supposed to be with her sister on the night she is believed to have been murdered, but had told Marea she couldn’t come over because of a new commitment.
“I’d just been voted as the lead of a community radio station, and they were our meeting nights. Things could have been different if Maria had listened more to what I and my other sister Carmen said, we’d have been on it like a rash, but I feel I did it by telling her I couldn’t see her on Monday night,” she said.
“Marea is in the wind, she’s in this main street. If I come to Healesville, I think about her all the time and I seldom come here for that reason, it just brings back that terrible memory of what happened and the memory of what I might have been able to do.”
Marea Yann had been a much-loved and valued member of the Healesville community since she moved to the area six years prior to her murder. She worked diligently as the manager at the Healesville Living and Learning Centre’s East End Op Shop, though had been on leave since April 2003.
Ms Green said it would be lovely if there was someone in town who is able to come forward with something genuine.
“Marea loved Healesville, she knew everybody along the street. You could look out the window from here and see her over the street talking to somebody,” she said.
“There used to be a motel up the road, and every Christmas there would be men there who had just come out of jail or who were hard done by and couldn’t feed themselves on Christmas Day, so she’d make up dinner and take it down to them, she was one of those sort of people.”
The initial 20 persons of interest are believed to have been reconsidered as part of a 2021 review. In the 2008 trial, Homicide Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles told Coroner Paresa Spanor that a number of people nominated as possible suspects had been eliminated, including Marea’s son Jeff Yann who appeared with his children Bella and Esther and nephew Milan Chagoury at the Victoria Police announcement on Tuesday 16 May 2023.
Speaking at the press conference, Jeff said his mum was a shining light in the Healesville community and was taken in such a brutal and violent manner that they could never let this thing go.
“Mum deserves justice, she never had justice 20 years ago, and we’re so lucky to have the support of the community and Vic Police who have been right by our side for the whole duration of this time,” he said.
“I wouldn’t wish this experience on any family, and we’d all rather be doing other things, but from an experience like this comes a lot of strength.”
Influenced by the death of their grandmother, Jeff’s daughters have gone on to seek careers supporting other victims of crime; Esther has just completed her Bachelor of Criminology and Bella has worked supporting women’s health in Alice Springs, particularly those facing violence, which Jeff described as ‘an amazing legacy that’s been left with our family.’
Bella said when she thinks about her Nonna, she doesn’t think of her relationship, or Christmas with her, but her murder.
“I think about ‘Oh, my Nonna was murdered’ and look, there are articles and who did it, and this person’s still around and that’s my experience of my grandmother and that’s not fair, it’s not fair for my family and it’s not fair for the grandkids,” she said.
“I think having all of this come up maybe, eventually, we’ll be able to think about Nonna and not the murder.”
The Star Mail reported in the aftermath of the murder that Marea often helped disadvantaged people in the Healesville community, offering them work helping in her garden or giving them a place to stay, showcasing her selfless nature that may have led to her death. Sen Sgt Iddles told Star Mail at the time that she looked after recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, would allow anyone into her home and ‘trusted people 100 per cent’, a notion supported by the fact there were no signs of forced entry.
Detective Superintendent of Crime Command Janet Stevenson said a significant investigation into Marea’s death has been conducted over the past two decades to try and determine who was responsible for her murder and what the motive was.
“Police have spoken to dozens of people as part of this investigation, however, there is always the possibility there is someone out there who is yet to speak to us. Alternatively, it might be someone who has never felt ready to provide detectives with particular information and for them, the time is now right,” she said.
“While there have been many developments in this case over the past 20 years, it remains open and unsolved. Importantly, with new information, we believe it still can be solved and we will follow up any possibility or new avenue of enquiry.”
Anyone with information about Marea’s death is urged by police to come forward, either by calling Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, submitting a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au or contacting police directly.
The reward of up to $1 million would be paid following an apprehension and subsequent conviction of a person or persons who murdered Marea Yann.
