Australian woman stabbed to death in front of her granddaughter; four men sought by police

Vyleen White, was with her 6-year-old granddaughter, when she was stabbed to death in Town Square Redbank Plains Shopping Centre’s underground car park on Saturday.

Queensland Police are calling on the community to help identify four people of interest as they investigate the stabbing death of an elderly woman in a shopping centre car park near Brisbane.

Police on Sunday released a video of four men getting out of a 2009 Hyundai Getz in Springfield Lakes, not far from the crime scene, about half an hour after the 70-year-old was murdered.

The woman had finished grocery shopping with her granddaughter at Redbank Plains near Ipswich when she was stabbed in the chest by a man in the centre’s underground car park about 6pm on Saturday.

Detectives from Ipswich and the Homicide Investigation Unit investigating the homicide of a 70-year-old woman at Redbank Plains overnight have released vision of four persons of interest, as investigations continue. https://t.co/Op2IkIWy43 pic.twitter.com/5Slrdjh87i

— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 4, 2024

The victim, named as retired teacher Vyleen White, died at the scene a short time later after attempts to revive her failed.

The 6-year-old girl was unharmed.

While police are looking for four people, Detective Acting Superintendent Heath McQueen said one man was responsible for the murder.

“There is still one person involved in the attack,” he told a media conference on Sunday.

“I have a vehicle located approximately 30 minutes after the events and I have four males exiting that vehicle.

“So you can see why we need to conduct investigations.”

Queensland Police have released CCTV footage of four men they wish to speak to in connection with the fatal stabbing of a grandmother in an Ipswich shopping centre on Saturday night. Image / Queensland Police

He said police were reviewing CCTV and needed the public’s help.

“It’s a cowardly crime like I’ve not seen in my time as a detective.

“This is a murder of a 70-year-old grandmother in front of her 6-year-old granddaughter.

“Now is not the time to remain tight-lipped.

“Now is the time ... to provide us with the information we need to identify the offenders who are responsible for this murder.”

Robbery is the suspected motive of the attacker.

The alleged getaway car is being forensically examined.

Police are appealing for anyone who might have seen the car between 6pm and 7pm on Saturday to make contact.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles said he had been briefed on the “awful murder” and backed police to find the culprit.

“It is an abhorrent crime, a terribly violent crime, a crime committed, it sounds like, in front of a very young relative of the victim,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“I know our police are working just as hard as they can to catch this perpetrator and no doubt the courts will take this crime as seriously as I do.”

He said nobody deserved to die that way.

“No doubt they will catch this murderer and I hope they throw the book at him,” Miles said.