Mystery deepens after Australian mum’s body is found being eaten by a dog

The grieving family of a young Indigenous mother of two whose decomposing body was found being eaten by a dog in the family’s backyard may finally get some answers at the coroner’s inquest as their hard-fought battle for justice continues.

Barkindji woman Lasonya Dutton, 31, had been missing for several days when her body was discovered in March 2022 just four meters from the kitchen window of her home in the remote town of Wilcannia in north-west NSW.

Lasonya’s uncle Merle Dutton was shocked to find the mother’s decomposing body in the family’s backyard.

When he went outside, he initially thought the dog was eating a kangaroo.

‘I didn’t think anything of it until I got a little closer and realized it was a human. “I just ran out screaming and yelling,” he said.

Merle claims that police never received a formal statement from him or other family members who could have provided information about Lasonya’s last days alive.

He claimed the only time he spoke to officers was “when they asked him to leave the house” after the grim discovery.

Her tragic death has shocked the town of fewer than 750 people, but almost 18 months later her devastated family are at a loss as to how and why she died.

Police ruled Lasonya’s death a suicide before a coroner stated in an autopsy report that “third party involvement” could not be ruled out and found the circumstances of Lasonya’s death suspicious.

The NSW Coroner’s Court has since taken over the investigation from police and is now conducting a coronial inquiry.

The Adelaide Advertiser has reported that the coroner has requested documents and interviews from the newspaper as part of an investigation into Lasonya’s death.

It comes after the Advertiser recently delved into Lasonya’s unexplained death as part of a podcast series.

Among the documents requested by the coroner are the publication’s interviews with Lasonya’s father Keith Dutton, uncle Merle Dutton who discovered his niece’s decomposing body and a neighbor who claims she saw two people trying to break into Lasonya’s home the night before her body was found.

“There are no court dates scheduled for this inquest at this time,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia

‘Coronial investigations are underway.’

The family claims Lasonya’s death was “poorly investigated” by police and that key witnesses who could have provided information were not interviewed.

Keith Dutton remains determined as ever to get justice and answers for his daughter.

Mr Dutton, who received the autopsy report almost a year after Lasonya’s death, insists his daughter did not commit suicide because she loved life as well as her two children.

Many unanswered questions remain 18 months after Lasonya Dutton’s body was found

“I don’t know how the police come to the conclusion that a full investigation has been done,” he said Adelaide Advertiser last month.

‘I’m shocked, to be honest. My family knows it, and half of Wilcannia knows it… I’m ready to explode.”

Wilcannia Lasonya Dutton was found dead in her family’s backyard in March 2022

Mr Dutton is baffled as to how his daughter could lie in the backyard for so long without her family seeing her, especially as the house was a ‘drop-in centre’ for locals.

There were also rumors that people saw Lasonya being attacked on the Friday evening she was last seen, and that a bloody knife was found at the local oval.

Neighbor Ingrid Bugmy recalled seeing two people appear as if to “get in” at Lasonya’s home the night before her body was found, two days after she was last seen.

‘I just thought it was strange. It was very strange to me that someone was standing on that side of that window… and the next day found a body there,” Ms Bugmy told the newspaper.

Mr Dutton went to the police with the claims he heard, but the alleged officers ‘didn’t want to hear it’.

NSW Police insist they investigated several lines of inquiry as part of the taskforce established to investigate Lasonya’s death and spoke to the family several times during the investigation, a claim Keith refutes.

If you or someone you know needs support, please contact 13Yarn (13 92 76) or Lifeline on 131 114.

The NSW Coroners Court is now investigating the tragic death of Lasonya Dutton and is working towards an inquest to provide answers for her grieving family