Wieambilla Siege: how a fitness watch revealed to his sister that Constable Matt Arnold was dead
Heartbreaking way a tiny piece of fitness tech revealed to the sister of cop shot by doomsday preppers that he was dead
- Const. Matt Arnold’s fitness watch revealed his death
- His sister saw his location on the Wiembilla estate
- His step count was also not updated
The sister of a police officer killed during the siege of Wiembilla has revealed how she was the first to discover her brother’s death.
After Hayley Arnold’s calls and texts to her brother and triplets, Constable Matt Arnold, went unanswered following news of the siege in the Queensland town of Wiembilla on Dec. 12, she turned to her fitness watch to verify his safety.
The fitness watch linked both siblings’ current fitness activity, allowing her to see her brother’s location and step count.
The watch showed that Mr. Arnold was on Wiembilla’s property, but not moving.
After initially believing that her brother’s reception in the small town had failed, Mrs. Arnold came to the heartbreaking realization that her brother had been murdered.
Hayley Arnold (center), sister of police officer killed during the siege of Wiembilla, Matt Arnold (left), has revealed his fitness watch indicated his death hours before confirmation
“His watch said he’d only taken 7,000 steps that day and he wasn’t moving, which was odd considering what was happening out there,” Arnold said in a story appearing in a commemorative edition of the Official Queensland Police Union. log.
“I initially hoped it was a sync issue between his watch, phone and the towers, but every time I refreshed there were no more steps or activity.
“I saw that the messages we sent got to him, so he had reception.”
Mr. Arnold along with his partner, Officer Rachel McCrow, were killed execution-style by Nathaniel, Gareth, and Stacey Train in an ambush as they walked down the property’s driveway to perform a health check.
A few hours after Mrs. Arnold checked her brother’s condition, the dreaded knock on the door came for their mother, Sue Arnold.
“That’s something I’ll never forget,” Mrs. Arnold said.
“I remember saying no, this can’t be true, they were here to tell me Matt was hurt, but opening that door is a nightmare.
“I’ve dreamed ever since that I was standing behind Matt watching him pull into the driveway and I was yelling at him to stop.
“But now I dream of opening the door and remembering the expression on Detective Inspector Mick Coulson’s face. That’s what I’m dreaming about now.’
Mrs. Arnold was able to tap her brother’s watch, showing that he was on the Wiembilla estate (pictured) and hadn’t moved in a while
It was also revealed that the day before the Wiembilla incident, the pair had spent hours wrapping their sergeant’s desk in Christmas paper in the run-up to the holiday.
Unfortunately, Sergeant Minz didn’t see the prank until the day after the Wieambilla incident.
“They packed literally everything, the desk, the computer, the keyboard, the mouse pad. You name it, it had a wrapper wrapped around it,” said Mr. Minz.
“I probably held the wrapper a month later, I just couldn’t take it off.”
Along with Officers Arnold and McCrow, a neighbor of the property, Alan Dare, was shot in the back and killed while investigating the source of gunfire and smoke.
The six-hour siege ended when a team of 16 specialist police officers from the Special Emergency Response Team brought down the Train trio.