Heartbreaking Family Tragedy: Mother and Two Children De-ad, Investigation Points to Sus-pected Mu-r-der-Suicide
A small South Australian community has thrown its support behind a man who lost his wife and two young children under tragic circumstances at Port MacDonnell, South Australia, last week.
Friends say the focus has now turned to supporting the surviving father, Brad Wright, as he faces the loss of his young family.
Brad’s wife, Helena Wright, and the couple’s two children, Hazel and Lewis, died after falling from a cliff on July 27, a tragedy now being investigated as a suspected murder‑suicide.
A fundraiser has been set up to help Brad manage funeral costs and flights for overseas relatives, with locals and friends describing an outpouring of compassion from across the region and overseas.
Close friend Adam Hockley said mates are rallying around Brad in “this darkest hour”, with support coming from “broken Aussie families and mates from country southeast South Australia and further afield — even so far as Estonia, Denmark and the USA”.
“We are just the mates of Brad and Helena and Hazel and Lewis Wright,” Hockley said, adding that people have stepped forward with “love, support, lasagna, strong hugs, tears, immense pain, joy and true mateship”.
Hockley told supporters, “Helena stepped from a cliff with her beautiful babies in her arms into the arms of her waiting saviour”, and urged people to hold their families close.
“If there’s someone in your life you haven’t forgiven, or you need to talk with, do it today because you don’t know how long you have,” he said.
Police confirmed Helena, 36, visited the Mount Gambier station less than 24 hours before she and her children died.
Helena and her young daughter were found in the water at the base of a cliff on Monday, while her infant son remains missing and is presumed dead.
A welfare check was triggered that morning after a friend raised concerns, but no one was home.
Hours later, members of the public reported Helena’s vehicle parked at Cape Northumberland with its engine still running. Officers made the grim discovery soon after.
Superintendent Trent Cox said detectives have now formally classified the case as a suspected murder‑suicide, with the coronial investigation continuing.
Search crews have spent days battling dangerous weather as they work to locate the missing three‑month‑old boy. Survivability experts have advised there is now “zero” chance the infant survived.
Local volunteers have continued combing the shoreline, determined to bring the baby home.
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