Mystery continues to surround the suspicious death of a well-known Melbourne artist who was reportedly found dead in a bathtub by her 17-year-old son.
The teen is believed to have discovered the body of his 43-year-old mother Antonia Tatchell in her Brunswick home, in Melbourne’s inner-north, about 7am Thursday.
Police were still searching for answers in the evening, and are treating the award-winning artist’s death as suspicious while awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination.
Melbourne mother Antonia Tatchell (pictured), 43, was found dead in the bathtub of her Brunswick home by her 17-year-old son about 7am Thursday, a neighbour reported
Police were still searching for answers in the evening, and are treating the award-winning artist’s death as suspicious while awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination
Ms Tatchell’s neighbour Maree said she spoke to the distraught boy just moments after he learnt of his mother’s sudden death.
‘He told me: ‘I found mum dead in the bath’,’ she told the Herald Sun.
‘He was in shock. It’s awful. I hope it was an accident.’
Fellow neighbour Durgesh Bhattarai said he would often see Ms Tatchell come and go from her house, but she would always keep to herself.
‘Sometimes I would hear loud music coming from the house late at night but nothing that would indicate anything was wrong,’ he told The Age.
‘It’s left us feeling really concerned and worried just to think that something like this can happen right next door to you.’
Emergency services were called to an Albert Street address in Brunswick after the body was found
Neighbour Durgesh Bhattarai said he would often see Ms Tatchell come and go from her house, but she would always keep to herself
Another resident said the home was ‘hostile’ and they often heard ‘yelling and screaming’
Another nearby resident described the home to Herald Sun as ‘hostile’, explaining they frequently heard ‘yelling and screaming’ coming from within.
They also recalled seeing a man outside the home crying after emergency services arrived, and watched as a young man was interviewed by police.
Meanwhile, a woman living across the street from the home said the death has scared her out of the neighbourhood.
‘I’m going to stay at a friend’s place tonight … I don’t feel safe and have been shaken up all day about it. The whole street feels eerie,’ she told The Age.
Police continue to investigate, with Detective Senior Sargent Mark Colbert saying earlier on Thursday: ‘This could be a non-suspicious death but we are just making sure we do things as thoroughly as we always do.’