Shocking clues over the final minutes of a tragic couple’s lives have emerged days after their bodies were found in an apparent brutal murder-suicide.
Police located the bodies of Aaron Hammond, 46, and Chamindika Jayawardena, 47, inside their McGraths Track home at Hernes Oak in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley on Monday.
It’s understood that the pair died over the weekend after neighbours heard two gunshots within 30 seconds of each other late on Saturday night.
On Wednesday, cleaners specialising in the mop-up of brutal crime scenes worked through the day to tidy the heavily-bloodstained location.
Daily Mail observed cleaners vigorously scrubbing the walls of the lounge area at the front of the house.
Their van parked outside was the only tell-tale sign of the horrific events which had occurred within.
From the street, the home’s bins could be seen neatly positioned next to a carport that sheltered items familiar to anyone living in the rural area.
Victoria Police refuse to reveal details of its investigation into the suspected murder-suicide. However, detectives are not hunting anyone else in connection with the tragedy.
Aaron Hammond, 46, and his partner Chamindika Jayawardena, 47, posed for an eerie snap
A cleaner’s van sits outside the home where the couple were found dead
The murder scene sits in the shadow of an area known as Haunted Hills
Mr Hammond’s family declined to comment about the boilermaker’s state of mind leading up to his death.
On Wednesday, a man believed to be Mr Hammond’s older brother, who lived 20 minutes away, requested privacy when approached by the Daily Mail.
Family members spotted at the crime scene a day earlier gave waiting reporters a similar blunt response when approached.
The Red Heart Campaign’s Sherele Moody reported on social media on Tuesday that the couple had recently become estranged.
‘She left him. He killed her,’ she posted.
‘Chami Jay was murdered by her former male partner in Hernes Oak, Victoria, over the past few days. He then killed himself. She had separated from him recently.’
Another acquaintance claimed Mr Hammond had been a ticking time bomb.
‘He was always going to do it, abusive partner to many,’ the woman wrote on social media.
The Red Heart Campaign’s Sherele Moody reported on social media on Tuesday that the couple had recently become estranged
The Yallourn Cemetery sits at the top of Haunted Hills
Haunted Hills casts a spooky shadow over the region
‘The signs were there for many, many years. Wish I could say I was surprised.’
Situated on the outskirts of Moe, the homestead can be found in the shadow of an area known as the Haunted Hills.
It is a name earned with merit and a location held with ghoulish pride among locals in the Gippsland region.
At the top of the hills lies Yallourn Cemetery – a stone’s throw from a mountain bike track that is lined with artwork depicting skulls.
A sign at the bottom states the hills ‘are steeped in spooky stories of strange noises, ghost sightings, inexplicable accidents, murder and spooked cows.’
The toilet block at the bottom of the hills was splattered with blood on Wednesday.
The region is no stranger to tragedy and has previously made global headlines at the centre of a series of unrelated high-profile crimes.
Among those was the tragic death of little Jaidyn Leskie in the Latrobe Valley town of Moe – 20 minutes’ drive from the courthouse where the Patterson trial will be held.
Mr Hammond’s neighbours told reporters they heard what sounded like ‘fireworks’ coming from the property in the hours before the grim discovery was made
Jaidyn Leskie and his mother
Greg Domaszewicz after he was charged with murder
Greg Domaszewicz was charged with murdering 13-month-old Jaidyn in 1997 but was found not guilty at trial.
Domaszewicz, then aged 28, was babysitting Jaidyn at the home of the boy’s mum when a pig’s head was bizarrely thrown onto the home’s front yard in an unrelated dispute.
Jaidyn went missing the same night, but six months later, he was found dead in a creek with horrific injuries, including a badly broken arm that was poorly treated.
Domaszewicz admitted to police the one-year-old boy had been hurt that night and that he ‘cleaned up the blood’, but denied killing him.
Police investigators at the time thought Domaszewicz had been working on a car which may have fallen off its jack and hurt the toddler playing nearby.
They believed Domaszewicz panicked, gave Jaidyn a drug and killed him with a blow to his head before dumping his body in the dam.
But the jury rejected that theory and cleared Domaszewicz of killing the child.
Mushroom killer Erin Patterson was put on trial just down the road from the crime scene in Morwell.
Chamindika Jayawardena was found dead alongside Aaron Hammond
Chamindika Jayawardena had travelled the world
Mr Hammond and Ms Jayawardena had been together for at least two years, according to social media
Mr Hammond’s neighbours told reporters they heard what sounded like ‘fireworks’ coming from the property in the hours before the grim discovery was made.
Brenno Amato did not think any more about it until he saw multiple police vehicles at the home on Monday.
‘I just thought it was people having a few shots at foxes out the back,’ he told Nine News.
‘I didn’t really take much to it until Monday when all the cops and everyone was here and we sort of put two and two together.’
He described them as a lovely couple who often holidayed overseas.
Mr Hammond and Ms Jayawardena had been together for at least two years, according to social media.
Mr Amato last spoke to his neighbour just days earlier.
‘I’ve known him for about a year and a half. Aaron used to let me put cattle and bulls on his property,’ he said.
‘Chami would always walk our street.’
They were described as a lovely couple who often holidayed overseas
Ms Jayawardena’s friends who travelled from Melbourne on Tuesday to retrieve the couple’s cat described her as ‘like family’
Ms Jayawardena’s friends who travelled from Melbourne on Tuesday to retrieve the couple’s cat described her as ‘like family’.
Anyone who may have information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
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