A four-year-old girl cruelly killed along with her mother and two siblings when her father set their car alight sent him a heart-wrenching video a year earlier, telling how much she loved him.
Rowan Baxter’s children Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, were killed when he set fire to the family’s SUV ablaze in Brisbane’s south-east on Wednesday morning.
The former NRL player’s estranged wife Hannah Baxter escaped the inferno but with burns so severe witnesses reported seeing her skin peeling off her body.
She was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital but was pronounced dead early on Wednesday evening.
The father’s Facebook page was filled with photos of his children – who he described as his ‘world’.
One video Baxter shared to social media was of his ‘little middle’ Laianah sending him a heartfelt message from her mother’s phone.
Rowan Baxter’s children Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, (pictured together) were killed when he set fire to the family’s SUV ablaze in Brisbane’s south-east on Wednesday
‘Hi Dad I miss you. I miss you at work,’ the young girl said before appearing to struggle for control of the phone with her elder sister.
‘I miss you so much and love you so, so much.’
Baxter wrote alongside the video: ‘Found this on my wife’s phone, my little middle missing her daddy at work.’
‘Priceless words before the older one jumps in to take over then listen to @hannbaxter in the background.
One video Baxter shared to social media was of his ‘little middle’ Laianah sending him a heartfelt message from her mother’s phone
‘Classic Baxter household antics.’
Little over a year later, he would kill Laianah, her two siblings and their mother in cold blood.
On Wednesday night, it was confirmed Hannah Baxter had succumbed to the horrendous burns she suffered in the unspeakable act of evil.
She had been taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital after the blast with burns so severe witnesses reported seeing her skin peeling off her body.
Her estranged husband also survived the initial blast but stabbed himself in the chest beside the burning car as neighbours desperately tried to free his children.
Pictured: Rowan and Hannah Baxter. Hannah died in hospital after suffering serious burns
The 42-year-old former NRL player jumped in the car as Ms Baxter strapped the children in to do the school drop off.
She was parked down the road from her parents home in Camp Hill, in Brisbane’s south east. She and the children had reportedly been staying there since separating from Baxter.
The couple were reportedly working through a nasty custody battle after their separation.
Witness Andrew Sinclair said he will never forget seeing Ms Baxter writhing in agony as her body burned.
‘The look of hurt looking straight at me, and seeing her clothing being burnt with her skin coming off her body, it was an awful thing to see.’
Baxter’s New Years’ Day post: The suspected killer NRL player brought in the new year with this post of his children in the shallows. ‘Goodnight ratbags always in my heart,’ it was captioned
Another neighbour said she was entirely conscious and aware of what had happened.
‘Skin was peeling off her, and she held her hands up… bits were hanging off. It was really quite horrific,’ the man said.
Aaron Snell, another neighbour who witnessed the tragedy, said he initially thought he was watching a road rage attack before he realised the gravity of the situation.
Queensland Police officers were called to a family violence incident allegedly involving the couple just last month
By the time he reacted, Ms Baxter had escaped from the car and was rolling on the footpath in an attempt to smother the flames.
A Good Samaritan was also trying to hose her down to stop the fire.
Witnesses said they heard her shouting ‘he’s poured petrol on me’ at the time.
Baxter was also still alive.
Neighbours said all they could see was thick, black smoke – followed by flames reaching into the air
He was across the road, but returned to the car to salvage a knife. He then stabbed himself in the chest, Mr Snell said.
Mr Snell, who is trained in CPR, said he was trying to assess whether he could perform it on Baxter because he was ‘just in all matter of states,’ he told The Courier Mail.
‘As I came to the front after calling Triple-0, I saw her (Hannah). She was smoking, her body was smoking and on fire,’ Mr Snell said.
By this point, others were on the scene and trying to put out the fire in an attempt to save the children, who were still trapped inside.
Wreckage: This is the white Kia Sportage SUV that went up in flames in Camp Hill, in Brisbane’s south east, at about 8.20am on Wednesday
Mr Snell believes Baxter attempted to stop them helping his children in his final moments.
‘He was so angry and just going absolutely crazy. It appeared like he wanted [the car] to burn,’ he said.
Baxter, an ex-New Zealand Warriors player, stabbed himself with a knife during the horrific attack on his family.
The couple had recently separated and shut down the business they ran together, Integr8 Fitness, based at Capalaba.
The family business: Rowan Baxter with Hannah Baxter and their three children pose in front of the company logo
Baxter flooded his Facebook site with photos and videos of his children, describing them as ‘my world’
‘T-R-E-Y, love you to the moon in back’, Rowan Baxter wrote – before he was suspected of killing his children and himself. A friend, Joey Abraham, told him ‘chin up, everything will work out’
In recent months, Baxter flooded his Facebook site with photos and videos of his children, describing them as his ‘world’.
‘T-R-E-Y, love you to the moon and back,’ he posted six days ago.
A month earlier, he captioned a post: ‘Goodnight my babies, Daddy loves you.’
But in disturbing footage also shared to his social media, Baxter ‘roughed up’ his kids to toughen them up.
He slammed his youngest, Trey’s, head into the corner of a bed multiple times and pretended to strangle him while holding him in a headlock in video shared online.
The comments section of the video, as well as a photo where he throws Trey high into the air, have been flooded by strangers who claim the posts show a ‘blatant disregard’ for the children’s safety.
Inferno family: Hannah and Rowan Baxter, with their three children (from left to right) Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey
Hannah Baxter survived the initial inferno, which killed her three children, Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three on Wednesday morning
Bodies were seen being loaded into the back of a funeral van on Wednesday afternoon, the family’s burnt-out Kia Sportage can be seen in the background being examined by police
Weightlifting friend Joey Abraham wrote to Baxter four days ago: ‘Chin up brother everything will work out just hang in there my bro.
‘A lot of people care about you and the situation you’re facing.’
A reeling Mr Abraham told Daily Mail Australia after the incident: ‘Rowan was in a real bad place there for a bit because of the separation.
‘If you knew Rowan when he at his best and to see him like last week then you know how far he’d fallen.
A policeman is pictured at the brick-and-tile Carindale residence where the father and his family had lived. A friend described the Baxters as a ‘beautiful family’
‘He was just a shadow of the person he used to be.
‘It’s just unbelievable that he could do this.
‘They were beautiful kids, they were a beautiful family.’
Queensland Police officers were called to a family violence incident that allegedly involved the couple just last month, The Courier-Mail reported.
But the family were not involved in any Family Court or Federal Circuit Court proceedings.
Burned-out wreck: Rowan Charles Baxter, 42, and his three children, Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, all died when the family’s white SUV was set alight at Camp Hill
CONFRONTING FOOTAGE SHOWS ROWAN BAXTER PRETENDING TO BREAK HIS SON’S NECK
Confronting footage has since surfaced of the father roughing his children up during a play fight in happier times.
In the vision, which Baxter uploaded to his Facebook account about a month ago, the three children giggled as he took turns grabbing them by the neck and pushing them away from him.
Trey, who was still in diapers at the time, eventually grew tired of the game after having his head slammed into a bed and ran off camera in tears.
Baxter laughed and continued playing with his two older girls.
Trey, who was still in diapers at the time, eventually grew tired of the game after having his head slammed into a bed and ran off camera in tears
The video was met with messages of support from his friends, who said he was teaching his children to have a thick skin.
‘That is the coolest bro. Kids love being roughed up then they don’t cry over every little thing. Awesome what you are doing,’ one said.
That same friend has since described Baxter’s reported actions as ‘inexcusable’.
‘What he has done is the saddest thing ever and inexcusable… I have nothing but good memories of the man and no one could have foreseen this happening. RIP to the little ones,’ he wrote underneath his original comment.
Baxter indicated the footage was taken just before bed time.
‘Sweet dreams my babies… love you to the moon and back,’ he wrote.