Human remains found alongside a bag of gardening tools in Sydney bushland identified as an elderly nature lover, 84, who vanished over four years ago
- The body of an 84-year-old woman who vanished four years ago has been found
- Bushwalkers found skeletal remains off a track in Ku-ring-gai wildflower garden
- Gardening tools were found nearby the remains of nature-lover Gaida Coote
Skeletal remains found in bushland north of Sydney belonged to an elderly nature lover who went missing over four years ago.
Two bushwalkers found the remains of Gaida Coote, 84, in the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden near St Ives last weekend.
Forensic examination identified the remains as Ms Coote who went missing at the garden on December 3, 2014.
A crime scene was established and a bag of gardening tools was found nearby in a search, NSW Police said on Sunday.
‘Golden girl’: Retired laboratory manager and nature-lover Gaida Coote, 84, went missing in 2014. Her skeletal remains were found 150m off a bushwalking track last weekend
A coronial inquest into Ms Coote’s disappearance in 2016 heard the retired laboratory manager was adventurous, physically fit and ‘passionate about nature’ to the point she helped conduct bush regeneration at the wildflower garden.
The coroner criticised police for hesitating to file a missing persons report after Ms Coote’s daughter reported the elderly woman missing.
The coroner concluded Ms Coote likely died of misadventure in the bush near the garden on the sweltering summer day.
Massive search efforts in the week that followed failed to locate any sign of the missing woman in the rough terrain.
Ms Coote’s remains were found in Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden near St Ives (pictured). The day she went missing was a ‘sweltering summer day’
Police, SES, Rural Fire Service, National Parks, council employees, the bush care group, PolAir and the dog squad all helped with the search.
It’s likely heavy thunderstorms which descended on the area shortly after Ms Coote is believed to have died washed away any evidence and may have moved her remains out of sight, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame said.
Ravenswood School for Girls mourned the loss of ‘one of our Golden Girls’, a few months after Ms Coote disappeared.
A new report will be prepared for the coroner.
Ms Coote was ‘passionate about nature’ and helped with bush regeneration at the wildflower garden. Gardening tools were found near her skeletal remains