JANUARY, 2020
Queensland Police officers are called to a family violence incident that allegedly involved the couple.
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 19 – EARLY MORNING:
Ex-NRL star Rowan Charles Baxter, 42, is spotted filling a jerry can with fuel at a local service station.
8.20AM:
Baxter dives into his estranged wife Hannah Baxter’s white Kia Sportage as she was preparing to do the school drop off on Raven Street, Camp Hill, a wealthy suburb of Brisbane.
He douses Ms Baxter, 31, and their three children – Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three – in petrol and sets the car alight.
Neighbours hear an explosion which sounded like a ‘gas bottle’ blast. At least four explosions followed.
Baxter grabs a knife from the SUV and stabs himself in the chest.
He tries to stop neighbours from saving his wife and children before dying in the street.
Ms Baxter escapes the burning car and screams: ‘He’s poured petrol on me.’
Horrified witnesses see her skin peeling off her body.
One heroic neighbour hoses her down in an attempt to save her life and suffers burns himself.
She is rushed to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a critical condition.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT:
Ms Baxter dies in hospital from the horrendous burns she suffered in the quadruple murder suicide.
WHO WAS ROWAN BAXTER?
Rowan Baxter was an ex-NRL player once contracted to the New Zealand Warriors.
He was a member of the President’s Selection 2005 pre-season team and worked in the sports and fitness industry for the last 20 years of his life.
He was raised in Tauranga, on New Zealand’s North Island, before moving to Australia.
Baxter lived in Brisbane alongside his wife, Hannah, and three children until as recently as late last year, when the couple separated.
The 42-year-old opened a gym, Intergr8 and CrossFit SMC in Capalaba, with his wife, but the pair closed it down as they worked through their split.
Ex Brisbane Broncos players Sam Thaiday and Matt Gillett have been known to train in the gym.
The ex-sportsman’s business website described him as an accomplished body weight trainer for NRL and AFL teams.
Unsuspecting family and friends believed he was a loving and dedicated father.