Haunting images of overloaded car reveal mother’s last trip before she was found dead at luxury Airbnb with her 8-year-old daughter

Children’s toys, a backpack, and shopping bags filled with clothes and shoes are among personal items that remain in the abandoned car of a mother and daughter who died in a suspected murder-suicide. 

Dr Tiffany Wilkes, 54, and her daughter Clementine, eight, were found dead at a rental home in Kenmore Hills, an affluent suburb in west Brisbane, on Monday afternoon by police responding to a welfare check. 

Emergency services rushed to the $1000-a-night Airbnb property, located about 20km from the pair’s Norman Park home, after Dr Wilkes colleague received an email outlining the prominent anaesthetist’s plans. 

It is understood first responders found the pair’s bodies outside of the home and police are treating the deaths as a murder-suicide. Tinarra Crescent was largely deserted on Wednesday as the road no longer remained an active crime scene.

The only sign of the tragedy that took place on the street – which features sprawling homes on large, rustic blocks – was a black Mercedes A200, parked down the road, metres away from the Airbnb. 

Covered in white powder (used by forensics teams to detect fingerprints), the hatchback was labelled with Queensland Police stickers advising members of the public that authorities were aware of the abandoned vehicle. 

Inside, a green plush toy was seen poking out of a brown paper bag from the store KidStuff, that was nestled on the front passenger seat. 

In the last 18 months, Dr Wilkes stopped working shifts and is believed to have been hopping between short-term rental properties and using her car for storage as she struggled with her mental health, even though she owned a luxury townhouse. 

Dr Tiffant Wilkes’ car remains abandoned metres away from the Kenmore Hills rental property

Children’s toys, clothing, and other items could be seen inside the black Mercedes

Dr Wilkes worked as an anaesthetist and was also a keen hiker  

Bags stuffed with clothing, towels, and linen were piled up on the back seats

The kid’s toy was surrounded by other personal relics – including a brown towel, red jumper, packets of baby wipes, and a brown paper bag filled with foldable reusable shopping bags, ziplock bags, and cleaning products.

Meanwhile, plastic grocery bags stuffed with clothes, linen, and towels were stacked on the back seats. 

Among those items was a little girl’s blue puffer jacket, a sea-horse themed backpack, a pair of sneakers, and a plastic bag stuffed with pink and grey balls of yarn. 

Being a keen hiker, Dr Wilkes in 2014 was involved in the Outback to Icecap trek to Antarctica as a youth mentor. Other participants have expressed shock at the recent events and remembered her as an active and well-liked member of the group. 

Program organiser Peter Bland told the Daily Mail Dr Wilkes was a ‘great person’. 

Neighbours of the rental property told the Daily Mail on Wednesday they were unaware the home was being used as an Airbnb.

Aside from being listed online as a holiday home, the property is also managed by a company that hires it out for photoshoots, video productions, and corporate events for $1750-a-day. 

Dr Wilkes was officially listed as a resident of Norman Park, but neighbours at her Longfellow Street townhouse told Daily Mail she had never moved into the residence after purchasing it for $1.27M two years ago. 

‘She bought the place about two years ago but never ever moved in, which I always thought was weird,’ one neighbour said.

Cleaning products and bags were stuffed into a brown paper bag on the front seat

Shoes, jacket, and child’s backpack could be seen among the items in the back of the car

It is understood the mother and daughter had been rented out the property (pictured) for a school holiday staycation 

‘She did renovations to a place that was already pretty new. I think they were only minor – like the floorboards and a bathroom.

‘But she never came back.’

The neighbour said he only met Dr Wilkes once when she came to visit the property.

He said they spoke for about ten minutes while Clementine was outside kicking a football.

One person who appeared to have insider knowledge of Dr Wilkes situation has reported online that she was ‘struggling with health issues’ and had ‘little family support’. 

Asked if Dr Wilkes appeared well during their interaction, the neighbour said ‘she did’ but ‘clearly wasn’t, to do something like this’. 

‘She seemed normal – as normal as anyone can seem when you speak to them for 10 minutes anyway,’ he said.

‘When I saw her she was just wandering around looking at the place after she bought it.

Dr Tiffany Wilkes was an esteemed anaesthetist who worked at hospitals across Queensland

Neighbours say Dr Wilkes never moved into the two-storey townhouse she purchased in Norman Park (pictured) two years ago 

Boxes wrapped in plastic could be seen inside the unfurnished home 

‘She seemed to know a bit about the biological dad, she said Clementine was good at football like him.

‘We never even exchanged details. I never saw her again.’

While police scoured the Kenmore Hills property on Tuesday, other detectives spent the day at Dr Wilkes home. 

The two storey townhouse – which sits in the middle of a block of three – appeared unoccupied when visited by the Daily Mail on Wednesday.

Finger-print dust could be seen coating the porch while boxes wrapped in plastic sat on grouped together in the middle of the floor of her unfurnished kitchen. 

Dr Wilkes was a highly regarded specialist who had worked across major Queensland hospitals, including Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra, for the past 13 years. 

She was also listed as an anaesthetist and pain management expert at the private Wesley Hospital in Auchenflower, where she was described as specialising ‘in Hepato-biliary and liver transplant anaesthesia as well as neuro-anaesthesia’. 

Police investigations into the incident continue. 

If you or someone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.