South Australia Police have confirmed the deaths of a woman and her toddler found in water off the state’s south-east coast are being treated as a murder-suicide.
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Helena Wright, 36, and her 23-month-old daughter were spotted in the water on Monday, after her car was found abandoned with its engine running near Port MacDonnell.
Ms Wright’s three-month-old son remains missing, with police saying they will continue to scour the area in the coming days and weeks.
Police said decisions would be made later today about how much longer the search for the baby will continue.
Superintendent Trent Cox, officer in charge of the Limestone Coast region, said the search operation was now focused on finding and retrieving the body of the infant.
“The reality is after three days, the chances of finding the baby alive is zero,” he said.
“Sadly it’s a retrieval effort, but we don’t know where he is.”
Police say they are continuing search efforts for the missing baby boy. (ABC News: Eva Blandis)
Superintendent Cox said the conditions in area had hindered search efforts, with water assets still unable to be launched.
“The SES has been able to get an aerial drone up, we did consider the use of an underwater drone but once again the water conditions are not favourable for that so we are not deploying that,” he said.
Police said SES crews would be arriving from Adelaide today to help with the search efforts and that support would be available for anyone affected by the incident.
“We’ve got a team of psychologists and medical staff attending Limestone Coast tomorrow, they’ll be at Mount Gambier for the next two days,” Superintendent Cox said.
“I’ll be reaching out to anyone who has been assisting us to see if they require assistance as well.”
Helena Wright and her daughter were found in waters on Monday. (Supplied)
When asked why police were treating the incident as “murder-suicide”, he said the evidence gathered so far had led police to believe there was not another person involved.
“There is no evidence to suggest that any other person was involved,” Superintendent Cox said.
He said any interactions Ms Wright had with police would form part of a brief of evidence which would be provided to the coroner.
Police resume a marine search at Cape Northumberland, near Port MacDonnell, for a missing baby boy on Wednesday. (ABC News: Eva Blandis)
In a statement, police said a coronial investigation would examine the cause and circumstances surrounding the deaths.
“While there is understandable community interest in the circumstances leading to this tragedy, it is essential that investigators are allowed to conduct a thorough and methodical investigation before conclusions are drawn or information is released publicly,” the police statement said.
“Premature release of unverified information risks compromising the integrity of the investigation and may cause further distress to family members already grieving an unimaginable loss.”