Wieambilla Siege: how a fitness watch revealed to his sister that Constable Matt Arnold was dead

The sister of a police officer slain during the Wieambilla siege has revealed how she discovered her brother’s death before anyone else.

After Hayley Arnold’s calls and texts to her brother and triplet, Constable Matt Arnold, went unanswered following news of the siege in the Queensland town of Wieambilla on December 12, she turned to her fitness watch to verify his safety.

The fitness watch linked the current fitness activity of both siblings, allowing her to see her brother’s location and step count.

The watch showed Mr Arnold was at the Wieambilla property but was not moving.

After first believing that her brother’s reception had faltered in the small town, Ms Arnold then came to the heartbreaking realisation that her brother had been killed. 

‘His watch said he’d only walked 7,000 steps that day and it showed he was not moving which was strange considering what was going on out there,’ Ms Arnold said in a story that appeared in a commemorative edition of the Queensland Police Union’s official journal.

‘I initially hoped it was a sync problem between his watch, phone and the towers but every-time I refreshed there were no more steps or activity.

‘I could see messages we were sending were getting to him so he had reception.’

Mr Arnold was killed execution-style alongside his partner, Constable Rachel McCrow, by Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train in an ambush while they walked down the property’s driveway to conduct a wellness check. 

A few hours after Ms Arnold checked her brother’s fitness status, the dreaded knock on the door came for their mother, Sue Arnold.

‘That is something I will never forget,’ Mrs Arnold said.

‘I remember saying no this cannot be right, they were here to tell me Matt had been injured but it’s a nightmare with the opening of that door.

‘Since then I’ve had dreams that I was standing behind Matt watching him walk up that driveway and I was calling out to him to stop. 

‘But now my dreams are of opening the door and recalling the look on Inspector Mick Coulson’s face. That’s what I dream of now.’

Ms Arnold was able to tap into her brother’s watch, showing that he was at the Wieambilla property (pictured) and had not moved for some time

It was also revealed that the day before the Wieambilla incident, the pair had spent hours wrapping their sergeant’s desk in Christmas paper in the lead-up to the holiday.

Unfortunately, Sergeant Minz only saw the practical joke on the day after the Wieambilla incident.

‘They wrapped literally everything, the desk, computer, keyboard, mousepad. You name it, it had wrapping on it,’ Mr Minz said. 

‘I kept the wrapping on for probably a month afterwards, I just couldn’t take it off.’

Alongside constables Arnold and McCrow, a neighbour of the property, Alan Dare, was shot in the back and killed while investigating the source of gunshots and smoke.

The six-hour siege ended when a team of 16 specialist police officers from the Special Emergency Response Team took down the Train trio.