ActivePaper Archive Brother favours check on body - The West Australian , 7/19/2004

Brother favours check on body

Picture

Drowning doubted: Peter Fison, 67, of Yokine, cherishes a family picture of his sister Violet Walker, who disappeared in 1975. Picture: Greg Burke

The brother of Violet Walker, who disappeared off Cottesloe Beach in 1975, hopes the examination of remains from Karrakatta Cemetery will answer questions about his sister’s fate.

An unmarked grave, which held an unidentified female body found near the Cottesloe groyne in September 1975, was exhumed on Friday at the request of Ms Walker’s daughter, Pat Holmes.

Police who examined the body in 1975 were unable to determine its age or identity and the remains were buried in the unmarked grave a year later.

Scientists are examining the remains and hope to compare its DNA to samples provided by Ms Holmes.

Ms Walker’s youngest brother, Peter Fison, 67, said yesterday he supported his niece’s efforts to identify her mother’s body.

He remembers Ms Walker, one of five children, as a happy-go-lucky person for most of her life until she became depressed about the time of her disappearance when she was 48.

She was a strong swimmer and he did not believe she had drowned. He hoped the tests would enable his sister to have a funeral and to find a proper resting place.

Journalist Juliet Wills, who has been investigating the case, found the unmarked grave recently.

She told The West Australian last week that Ms Walker’s landlady had discovered her tenant missing in August 1975 after finding her key in the door and her hungry cat.

The badly decomposed body was found four weeks later but it was suggested it might be that of a murdered prostitute said to have been thrown off a yacht.