Nina Starr, Loxton Murder, Further Update

Updates: Everything about Nina Starr.

From the advertiser:

A MAN pleaded guilty yesterday to murdering Loxton woman Nina Starr, whose body was found in the River Murray last year.

James Hall, 20, of Malpas, in the Riverland, admitted in the Supreme Court he murdered the 53-year-old supermarket worker.

Ms Starr's body was found floating in the river by campers, near the Loxton Riverbank Caravan Park wearing only ankle socks.

Police investigating her death at the time described Ms Starr's killing as "particularly vicious".

Hall was remanded in custody for sentencing submissions, to be heard in June.

Not many other outlets are carrying the story, unfortunately.

ABC Regional has the most detail:

Man admits to Loxton murder
Friday, 25 May 2007. 12:09 (AEST)

A 20-year-old man from the South Australian Riverland has admitted that he brutally murdered a woman at Loxton.

James Hall has pleaded changed his plea to guilty in the Supreme Court on a charge of murdering 53-year-old Nina Starr.

The court heard that he used a 44 cm spanner to bash Ms Starr while she was out walking.

Her badly-beaten body was found floating in the River Murray in January last year.

Hall will receive an automatic life prison sentence for murder.

Justice Margaret Nyland will consider setting a non-parole term later.

Outside the court, Ms Starr's family expressed relief at the guilty plea but said it did little to ease the grief.

Google news has the latest on this story.

For Clarity...

Updates: Everything, including James Hall is sentenced.

Just to reassure people who have heard about the unfortunate death of Nina Starr in Loxton in the recent past...

Who might live overseas and be prone to panic...

Who might know the people I live with...

I AM NOT A $#%$%$^ MURDERER. YOUR RELATIVES ARE SAFE, UNHARMED, AND FACE ONLY THE DIRE THREAT OF A HANGOVER, AT WORST.

I'm glad we're all clear on that now.

Nina Starr, #3

Updates: Everything, including James Hall is sentenced.

STARR, Nina - (Tragically Taken) Dearly loved daughter of Brenda and the late Alec Starr.
Loved sister to Laura, Jane, Ruth, Helen, Peter and William.
Loved forever.
Funeral Arrangements to be advised.

O.E. BRADTKE & SONS

I finally got around to publishing photos of the approximate area where she was found. I have a strong feeling she'll be really missed in Loxton...

Nina Starr / Loxton Murder Update

Updates: Everything, including James Hall is sentenced.

When I reached home I discovered something very surprising: if the web was powered by gossip, I'd have nothing impressive to tell people about what I learned in the day.

Donshae informs me of the arrest and charging of a 19 year old male (I know the name, I just can't remember it) who was supposedly heavily stoned when he murdered Nina Starr.
The Advertiser confirms it but withholds the name, also releasing absolutely no details about how Nina Starr actually died.

Rumor (possibly unfounded) has it that the "particularly vicious" injuries inflicted upon Nina is a polite euphamism for an axe blow or several to the face.

What's more, I mention this whole affair to my friends and discover just how small the world is: Chloe's father went to school with Nina, Donshae went to school with the accused, Jason knows Nina's relatives, and our neighbours are aghast that it's all happened in the sleepy community of Loxton.

As chance would have it, I have photographs of the area in which the body was found: unwittingly, I'd snapped away at some of the locations. I'm not sure if it would be wise to post them at this time...

My Weekend and Murder

Updates: Everything, including James Hall is sentenced.

This weekend I went away with my housemates to the community of Loxton. I'd spent the trip up tapping away on my laptop, trying to think of mystery & intrigue to write about, and work into some fashion of ARG.

Life is infact a lot stranger than fiction, it turns out. Donshae, who grew up in the area, and Chloe, who lived about 40km away were shocked when we heard about the death of a woman and the discovery of her body near the local caravan park.

The local caravan park is the main swimming area of Loxton, right on the river Murray. It's where everyone goes - so it must have been very, very upsetting to find the body afloat in its waters.

Initially it appeared to be an accidental death, but police later declared it a major crime and appealed for information in the case. We got back to Donshae's family home and were told that no-one knew who she was - police as of yet had no way to identify the woman.
Rumor had it that she had suffered a large amount of blunt force trauma to the face; which I am willing to believe seeing as it took so long to identify her.

Later, we found out that she was in her 50s, and had only been wearing a pair of socks and two necklaces - the necklaces were in the sunday mail. No one thought she was a local, figuring that we'd know if someone was missing, wouldn't we? But unfortunately, that wasn't the case - 53 year old local resident and supermarket worker, Nina Starr, met an unfortunate end.

Initial speculation that she had been shot was unfounded. The post mortem results should be available over the coming day or week, so I may keep you all posted.

Erstwhile, google news carries the related stories.