Human remains located off a major NSW highway last month belong to murdered woman Samah Baker, police have revealed.
Baker, 30, was murdered by James Hachem, 37, after she was dropped off in Parramatta in January 2019.
Her remains were found by a woman in grassland off the Hume Highway, on 28 July 2023, approximately 100m south of the Windellama Rd overpass near Goulburn.
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Examinations have since confirmed the remains belong to Baker, police said on Thursday.
“The Hume PD detectives worked closely with the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad to determine the identity of the remains,” NSW Police said in a statement.
“Following the examination and analysis by NSW Health Pathology, the remains have been confirmed as belonging to 30-year-old Samah Baker.”
In a statement on Thursday, her family said their grief had been compounded by their inability to have a funeral or say goodbye to their loved one.
“The news of her remains being discovered four and a half years later isn’t a neat resolution, but it does offer a small measure of what we’ve been longing for all this time,” they said.
“Each development in the case feels like a reopening of our barely healed wounds, reminding us of the harsh reality of our loss.”
In May, Hachem — Baker’s on-off again boyfriend — was handed a sentence of 24 years’ imprisonment and a non-parole period of 18 years, backdated to his arrest in 2019.
The court was told Hachem waited outside her apartment in his car and spied on Baker while she was on a date with another man, becoming enraged when he witnessed the pair kissing in the early hours of January 4 that year.
He then concocted a story about his parents being involved in a car accident in order to lure Baker out of her apartment before killing her.
He later went to Bunnings and bought various items including a double sheet, gloves, cleaning products and a digging trowel, before driving to isolated areas in rural NSW.
He will be eligible for parole in March 2037.
– With AAP
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.
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