Sarah Brown death: Former detective joins forces with her grieving family in the hope of shedding new light that she didn’t take her own life

A retired detective re-investigates the tragic case of a young woman who left her home to buy a bottle of wine, only to be found dead in the bushland seven days later.

Sarah Brown, 23, was wearing full make-up, a summer dress and thongs as she headed to the shops when she went missing on June 7, 2021.

Her body was found a week later in bushland near her home in the Gympie suburb of Victory Heights, north of Brisbane.

Her death was not found suspicious by police, who ruled it a suicide by hanging.

Ms Brown’s devastated family were left with dozens of unanswered questions.

Her mother Janet Gardner has long refused to believe that her daughter took her own life.

She insists her daughter was excited about the future and they were due to view a rental property together on the day she went missing.

Ms Gardner has enlisted the help of retired detective turned private investigator Graeme Crowley, who agreed the case had left ‘more questions than answers’.

“This was not a suicide,” Mr. Crowley told the newspaper Courier mail.

“What (the death was) was, I don’t know.

“It could have been a drug overdose with third party intervention, it could have been murder.”

Mr Crowley has recorded four episodes of a podcast series entitled Who Killed Sarah Brown?, the fifth of which will be released in the coming days.

“I want to dig further,” Mr. Crowley said.

“I want to know what others know about Sarah’s death. Apparently a lot of people had a lot to say.”

As part of his investigation, Mr Crowley has reviewed CCTV footage which appears to show Ms Brown’s last movements near where her body was found.

The private investigator also found that police initially questioned the relative lack of composition of Ms Brown’s body, claiming it did not appear to match that of a person who had been dead for a week.

Mrs Brown’s phone was found with a broken screen and no SIM card.

The CCTV footage showed Brown walking along a road with a phone flashlight towards the area where her body was found, stopping at several locations.

But Ms Gardner said it was impossible to confirm that the figure in the CCTV footage was in fact her daughter and claimed the timing did not match what she believed were Brown’s last movements.

“I honestly don’t know what happened to Sarah,” she said.

“I’m convinced something is wrong.”

Ms Gardener previously said she does not believe her daughter walked into the bush alone because she was “terrified of spiders, moths and insects”.

She also said she was physically unable to commit suicide in the manner police say she did because she had a hand injury.

The 23-year-old also posted on Facebook hours before she disappeared around 5pm on June 7 to say she was “feeling positive”.

She has struggled with drug and alcohol addiction in the past, but her family is confident she would not have taken her own life.

“Sarah was dealt a very bad hand because of her drug use, so I don’t think she could have done it herself,” Ms Gardner previously told Daily Mail Australia.

‘We also had plans to meet the next day – she found a place to move in Brisbane, where she had enrolled on a beauty course, and I was going to meet her in Gympie to help her move. She hated Gympie and couldn’t wait to get out.’

However, in September last year the state coroner found no evidence that a third party was involved in Ms Brown’s death.

As a result, no coronial inquiry was ordered.

If you or someone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 or Suicide call service on 1300 659 467.