Yvette Rigney-Wilson from Adelaide who was found dead with her two young children. Picture supplied via Facebook
Yvette Rigney-Wilson from Adelaide who was found dead with her two young children. Picture supplied via Facebook
As loved ones mourn the death of the mother and children killed in Monday's farmhouse tragedy, it has emerged that child protection authorities were in "active contact" with the family.
South Australian woman Adeline Yvette Rigney-Wilson, 29, and her two children, Corey, 5, and Amber, 6, were found dead Mondayin a farmhouse at Hillier, north of Adelaide.
In a devastating twist, The Advertiser has been told that Families SA social workers conducted a welfare check at the property where Ms Rigney-Wilson lived with her children, just hours before they were killed.
Grieving mother Donna Rigney is comforted by other family members. Photo / AAP
Families SA would not confirm if social workers visited the property as recently as Monday but the agency issued a general statement confirming staff had been in contact with the family.
"Social workers were in active contact with the mother and children," the agency told The Advertiser. "It would be inappropriate and disrespectful to the deceased to publicly elaborate on the nature of support being provided.
"As with any event of this magnitude, the appropriate authorities will examine the circumstances around the deaths and the department will participate in and support that process fully."
Child Development Minister Susan Close declined to comment.
Ms Rigney-Wilson's partner Steven Graham Peet, 30, has been charged with three counts of murder.
Ms Rigney-Wilson's grieving mother spoke of her heartbreak and shock over her 29-year-old daughter's death, saying she got mixed up in the "wrong crowd" but still always put her children first.
Donna Rigney told The Advertiser that Adeline, who the family knew as Yvette, was "beautiful, she was so beautiful".
She couldn't believe what had happened.
"I never thought it would end like this," she said on Tuesday morning.
"Adeline was beautiful, she was so beautiful. The human feeling, the emotion, is I want revenge but I can't do that.
"It's in the good Lord's hands. They are in the good Lord's hands. We've got God and he will sort this out - and the devil will take care of his own."
Names and images of the victims have been published with the family's permission. Peet appeared in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon and did not apply for bail.
Donna Rigney told The Advertiserher daughter had been having "ups and downs" that prevented the family from seeing her in recent months.
"It was bad sh*t. I just wish things would have changed but they didn't," she said. "My daughter got mixed up with the wrong kind of crowd, with drugs, ice ...
"People are going to judge her based on that and how she looks but I don't care what they think - she was a beautiful lady who looked after her children and always made sure they were right."
Donna Rigney: "It's in the good Lord's hands." Photo / AAP
The modest home they were killed in was transformed into a crime scene yesterday, crawling with police and forensic teams. They paid special attention to two parked cars outside the home that were surrounded by police markers.
The property was being lit up last night by flashes of officers taking pictures of things inside and out.
How the three died though remains a mystery - police refuse to say what "the manner" of death was.
"I can't make any comment about the method of the deaths that have occurred. I won't do that," Chief Inspector Alby Quinn said.
But the nature of the crime was traumatic, Insp Quinn said.
Insp Quinn said police were not searching for anyone else in connection with the deaths. "This does appear to be domestic-related and we are not looking for any other further persons in relation to this incident," he told reporters.
Earlier this year Peet shared a post on Facebook that read: "The day you raise your hand to a woman. That day you're officially not a man!"
A man named Sam, who walked from the crime scene area after talking to police, found the bodies.
He said he was an acquaintance of Peet having bought a car from him. "It's not good to find two dead kids," he told The Advertiser.
Another man who arrived at the death scene said he had been at the property on Friday to carry out some work. The man, a security door contractor, wouldn't say why.
The Nine Network reported on Tuesday morning police had been called to the house before.
Ms Rigney-Wilson's sister described her sister and her children as "beautiful". "She was a strong black woman," she said of her sibling.
She revealed Ms Rigney-Wilson had only lived with Peet - in the home she was killed - for six weeks.
One neighbour told The Advertisershe hadn't even noticed they'd moved in. "I've never seen them before, hadn't seen anything or heard anything from over there," she said.
"I'd never even noticed that they were there, we'd never had any bother from them at all, they were very quiet."
Another couldn't believe a triple murder had shattered the calm of their quiet neighbourhood.
"It just makes me feel so upset, especially that something like this could happen so close to where I live," she said.
"It makes me wonder what the world is coming to, who would harm children like that?"
