Cheryl Ardler’s ex-boyfriend is charged with her murder – a year after her remains were found buried in remote bushland
- Dennis French is accused of killing Cheryl Ardler in Cranebrook, NSW
- Ms Ardler, 41, was reported missing just before Christmas in 2012
- A boy found her bones buried in remote bushland in May last year
An aboriginal woman’s ex-boyfriend has been charged with murder six years after she disappeared.
Dennis French is accused of killing Cheryl Ardler in Cranebrook, west of Sydney.
Ms Ardler, 41, was reported missing just before Christmas in 2012 before a boy found her bones buried in nearby bushland in May last year.
Cheryl Ardler (pictured), 41, was reported missing just before Christmas in 2012 before a boy found her bones buried in bushland in May last year
Dennis French (pictured) is accused of killing Cheryl Ardler in Cranebrook, west of Sydney
After news of the charge today, Ms Arlder’s mother Irene said her daughter was ‘cruelly taken.’
‘Today’s news is a very bittersweet moment for our family,’ she said in a statement.
‘It’s very hard to know that our beautiful Cheryl will never be coming home and that she was so cruelly taken from us.
‘Cheryl’s smile could light up the room and her love for life was infectious.
‘She is so loved by all of us and without her here, our family just won’t be the same.
Cheryl’s smile could light up the room and her love for life was infectious
‘As we are still coming to terms with this news, our family requests privacy at this time.’
When the remains were found, Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said the discovery was a ‘major breakthrough’ in the case.
It prompted police to announce a $750,000 reward for any information that could lead to the capture of Ms Ardler’s killer or killers.
The Unsolved Homicide Squad has been working the case since it was handed over to them after a 2016 coronial inquest.
Deputy State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan had concluded Ms Ardler had been murdered.
The inquest heard that Ms Ardler was from a tight-knit and loving family she kept in regular contact with.
When the remains were found last year, Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said the discovery was a ‘major breakthrough’ in the case. Pictured: Ms Ardler’s family
It was also revealed in 2016 that Ms Ardler’s Facebook account had been accessed more than 100 times after her disappearance.
A message reading ‘sucks 2 be u’ was posted to her account on January 16, 2013 – three weeks after Ms Ardler went missing.
When Ms Ardler disappeared, her friends and family started to observe unusual activity on her account.
Her photographs were deleted, she used different language and made contact with people she would not typically reach out to via Facebook.
The inquest was told that Ms Ardler was last seen alive with a black eye and ‘busted lip’ at a bus stop in Sydney’s west with Dennis French in December 2012.
In 2016 it was revealed that Ms Ardler’s Facebook account had been accessed more than 100 times after her disappearance
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