Father reveals close to finding killer Australian traveller, 20, found murdered in Mozambique

The father of a young Australian woman tragically murdered in a beachside African village has revealed there has been been a major breakthrough in the case. 

Melbourne woman Elly Warren, 20, was on the last days of a diving and volunteering program in the village of Tofo in Mozambique when she was murdered and possibly raped in 2016. 

Her body was found face down near a toilet block with her underwear around her ankles.   

Her father, Paul Warren, has travelled to the country multiple times to conduct his own investigations after he claims local authorities bungled the case.  

But now, Mr Warren says there had been a major step forward in tracking down his daughter’s killer. 

The father of a young Australian woman tragically murdered in a beachside African village has revealed there has been been a major breakthrough in the case 

Elly Warren, 20, was on the last days of a diving and volunteering program in the village of Tofo in Mozambique when she was murdered and possibly raped in 2016 (pictured with a friend)

Elly Warren, 20, was on the last days of a diving and volunteering program in the village of Tofo in Mozambique when she was murdered and possibly raped in 2016 (pictured with a friend) 

Mr Warren told A Current Affair new investigators have taken over the case and high level police sources have told him that four people are now wanted over the case and that Interpol is involved. 

‘All i can say is that they are hot on the trail of whoever killed my daughter,’ he said. 

Mr Warren is also offering a $15,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction. 

A marine conservation volunteer, Elly was on a diving trip in Africa when her life was cut short a week before she was due to fly home to Australia.

Ms Warren had been in the country for six weeks as part of Underwater Africa, a conservation program that ‘helps protect the oceans’.

She had left program the day before she was found dead. 

Her family, who found out about the young traveller’s death in a heartbreaking late-night phone call from another backpacker, believe she became separated from her group. 

Ms Warren’s mother, Nicole Cafarella told The Age her daughter was ‘just one of those girls that wanted to travel the world and see everything she could before she was 30’.

Just days earlier Ms Warren had posted a video to Facebook of herself swimming with whale sharks off the Mozambique coast.  

Her father, Paul Warren, has travelled to the country multiple times to conduct his own investigations after he claims local authorities bungled the case

Her father, Paul Warren, has travelled to the country multiple times to conduct his own investigations after he claims local authorities bungled the case 

Mr Warren says there had been a major step forward in tracking down his daughter's killer (pictured with her father and brother)

Mr Warren says there had been a major step forward in tracking down his daughter’s killer (pictured with her father and brother) 

Ms Warren had been in the country for six weeks as part of Underwater Africa, a conservation program that 'helps protect the oceans'

Ms Warren had been in the country for six weeks as part of Underwater Africa, a conservation program that ‘helps protect the oceans’ 

Initial investigations by local authorities claimed she died of a drug overdose, however, it was later confirmed she died of asphyxiation after inhaling sand. 

She had cuts and bruising on her neck along with bruises on her mouth and it is thought she died on the beach and her body was then moved.  

‘My daughter loved life. They’ve taken her life. The life she could have had was taken away from her,’ Mr Warren said. 

The young traveller had booked two nights at the beachfront Wuyani Pariango backpackers in the picturesque Tofo Bay but she failed to return to her room.

Previously speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the hostel manager, who wished to remain anonymous, said staff members had seen the woman before she went missing.

‘She came in alone to drop off her bag and then left to meet a friend,’ the hostel manager revealed.

‘She had pre-booked her accommodation but never stayed here.’

The volunteer tour’s booking manager Graeme Warrack previously told Daily Mail Australia the young traveller had left their group the day before she was killed. 

‘Elly was an incredible volunteer who was doubtlessly the life and soul of any activity,’ he said.

‘Mozambique having been through civil war… it’s very hard to say how much transparency, how much confidence we can have in the process from here,’ leading Victorian barrister Mick Pappas QC told the program. 

Initial investigations by local authorities claimed she died of a drug overdose, however, it was later confirmed she died of asphyxiation after inhaling sand

Initial investigations by local authorities claimed she died of a drug overdose, however, it was later confirmed she died of asphyxiation after inhaling sand 

A marine conservation volunteer, Elly was on a diving trip in Africa when her life was cut short a week before she was due to fly home to Australia

A marine conservation volunteer, Elly was on a diving trip in Africa when her life was cut short a week before she was due to fly home to Australia 

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk