POOR TIA BETRAYED TO THE BITTER END
THE FOSTER FATHER ACCUSED OF MURDERING TIAHLEIGH PALMER LED THE HUNT FOR HER SEARCH WITH HER HEARTBROKEN MOTHER CINDY, WRITES KATE KYRIACOU
Rick Thorburn accused people of hiding Tiahleigh Palmer and begged for information on her whereabouts in the days after he allegedly killed her and dumped her body.
For days, the man now charged with murdering his 12-year-old foster daughter, drove the streets in search of her, documenting his progress on a Facebook page.
“If any of her friends are hiding her again, please do the right thing and let us know. She needs to come home where she belongs,” Thorburn wrote the night Tia was reported missing.
Thorburn, 56, told police he had driven Tia to Marsden State High School on the morning of Friday, October 30, 2015, and watched as she made her way towards the school gate.
When she didn’t make it home, he contacted her mother and the two spent days frantically searching the Logan area for her.
But police now believe Thorburn had smothered Tia the night before after discovering his son had sexually abused the schoolgirl.
Police will allege the foster carer murdered Tia because he feared his son – a 19-year-old dancer – would end up in prison where he’d be targeted by other inmates. They believe that after killing her, he dumped her body on the banks of the Pimpama River and, hours later, mounted a search to find her in another area. Thorburn made constant posts on the Crime Watch Logan page, followed by 30,000 people, documenting his efforts to find her. He suggested Tia had run away or was hiding with friends and advised anyone “hiding” her to contact him. Thorburn joined Tia’s mother, Cindy Palmer, in searching for her until late on October 30 and was back driving the streets again by 7.30am the following day. “This is the longest time she’s been gone,” Ms Palmer wrote. “I’m going to revisit all the addresses again now,” Thorburn posted. “People, please if you see her or know anything call police or these numbers …” Three hours later, he posted again. “Come on people, we have been everywhere we know. We don’t know where else or who else to see. PLEASE,” he wrote.
Members of Tia’s frantic family, including relatives in New Zealand, posted on the site, begging for information, as thousands of locals shared her photograph.
“If someone is hiding her, you are seriously not any good for her and should be ashamed of yourself. Do you understand what this does to the people that love her and care for her? WE, the police and her mum have been at this all day. If you are with her, tell her enough is enough. Just come home, phone someone, anyone, please,” Thorburn wrote.
At 6am the following morning, he was back online and continuing the search.
“We are still trying to find Tia. She has to be at someone’s house,” he wrote.
“She has no money. She does not like being out in the dark alone. She (is) not familiar with too many areas so (if) she is with someone, please anyone around the Logan area this morning keep looking. We and her mum are worried sick about her please.”
As the search went on, Tia’s family sent messages to the Facebook pages of various media outlets and begged police to issue a media release.
Palmer explained that her daughter had run away from her foster carers before, but only ever for a few hours.
By November 2, a Monday, Thorburn posted that he hoped she would turn up to school, having stayed at a friend’s place for the weekend.
“Can people please keep a lookout around the school this morning as they are dropping off. I’m sure Tia will be around there somewhere and ask your kids to tell their teacher if they see her,” he wrote.
But Palmer was not so hopeful.
“Everyone was saying that she would turn up at school today but I knew she wouldn’t,” she wrote.
Thorburn posted that afternoon. “Anyone who can give me an address I will be there any time, just call or text,” he wrote, posting his mobile phone number.
By November 3, locals were demanding to know why Tia’s photograph wasn’t all over the news and why an Amber Alert hadn’t been issued.
“Nothing seems to be getting done from all departments,” Julie Pemberton, who had cared for Tia for two-and-a-half years before she moved in with the Thorburns, commented.
“I will be going to the police to get things sorted myself,” Palmer wrote.
“If they won’t do a media release, I will go to the news.”
Thorburn had been back on the page at first light, declaring his willingness to keep searching. Privately, he had been sending messages to the woman running the Crime Watch Logan page saying he was “exhausted”.
“Someone give us a location, even a maybe, doesn’t matter how far. We will go anywhere to check it out,” he wrote at 6am.
At midnight, he posted again.
“We have been getting a lot of maybe sightings but going nowhere but keep sending through anything we will keep following them up no matter what,” Thorburn wrote.
A few hours later, with the search entering its sixth day, his wife wrote her own post.
“Please everyone keep sharing we need more help she’s been gone way too long,” Julene Thorburn wrote.
Soon, comments from the public began turning negative, with people asking what was being done to find Tiahleigh.
“Both families are exhausted from everything,” Palmer wrote.
“We have been trying and all the worrying on top of it.”
Minutes later, Thorburn weighed in.
“Everyone, thankyou for all
She does not like being out in the dark alone … We and her mum are worried sick Rick Thorburn
the help but can we please keep it to positive (feedback) as all the negative feedback towards police and media is really adding extra stress to Cindy and ourselves so please keep up the excellent work in looking for her. Any info, no matter how insignificant it may seem, all helps and is being following up on by me, police and Cindy.”
Palmer, who had spent close to a week searching for her daughter with the man now accused of her murder, wrote: “I am honestly doing the best I can … am seven-months pregnant and no car during the day. I can only do what I can.” The next day, on November 5, police issued a media release and circulated photographs of Tiahleigh. Hours later, her body was found on the banks of the Pimpama River. Thorburn, police have alleged, had known where she was the entire time. “Hi,” Thorburn posted on a Facebook page days later, “we have accommodati on available for one or two students. We are blue-card approved and offer a clean, safe home.”