On a Sunday in Bali, a woman in Jakarta heard her child crying through a phone call that then went silent — and that silence set in motion a discovery that has left three people dead and a family shattered. Damien John Shaw, 56, and his two young children were found in their Kuta bungalow after neighbours forced entry at the mother's urging. Police are investigating the deaths as a suspected murder-suicide, though they have not yet confirmed the cause, and the full truth of what unfolded inside that home remains, for now, unknown. It is a story about the fragility of ordinary moments — a phone
Australian man and two children found dead in Bali home under investigation
Three people dead: an Australian man aged 56 and his two children aged 6 and 4.
She heard one child crying, then the line went dead.
Mark
Why did the wife call a neighbour instead of police directly?
Mimi
She was in Jakarta, hundreds of kilometres away. She heard her child crying, then couldn't reach her husband. A neighbour was the fastest way to get someone to the house to check.
Luke
We don't actually know if she considered calling police. The source just says she called a neighbour. That's what we know.
Mark
What does "suspected murder-suicide" mean in this context?
Mimi
Australian media reported that classification, but Bali police haven't confirmed it. They're saying they don't yet know the cause of death.
Luke
Right—that's important. The media reported it; the police haven't. Those are different things. We should be clear about that distinction.
Mark
How long had the wife been away?
Mimi
She'd travelled to Jakarta in the days before. We don't know exactly how many days, or why.
Luke
The source says "in the previous days"—plural. That's all we have. Could be two days, could be five.
Mark
What happens next in the investigation?
Mimi
Police are conducting further examinations to determine the cause and manner of death. That will either confirm or contradict the murder-suicide theory.
Luke
And we don't know how long those examinations take, or when results might be public. The story is still opening.
Il Polso
- A mother in Jakarta heard her young child crying during a call with her husband in Bali — then the line cut out, and she could not get through again.
- Alarmed, she contacted a neighbour in Kuta, who arrived at the family's bungalow to find the door unanswered and, after forcing entry, discovered three bodies inside.
- Damien John Shaw, 56, and his children aged six and four were all found dead — a scene that Australian media quickly characterised as a suspected murder-suicide.
- Balinese police have urged caution, telling the BBC that the cause and manner of death have not been confirmed and that further examinations are still needed.
- Western Australia's premier described the situation as 'very confronting' and expressed hope that investigators would be able to determine what happened.
On a Sunday in Bali, a woman in Jakarta heard her child crying through a phone call that then went silent — and that silence set in motion a discovery that has left three people dead and a family shattered. Damien John Shaw, 56, and his two young children were found in their Kuta bungalow after neighbours forced entry at the mother's urging. Police are investigating the deaths as a suspected murder-suicide, though they have not yet confirmed the cause, and the full truth of what unfolded inside that home remains, for now, unknown. It is a story about the fragility of ordinary moments — a phone call, a child's cry, a line gone dead — and the irreversible weight of what follows.
On Sunday, a woman travelling in Jakarta called her husband, Damien John Shaw, at the family's bungalow in Kuta, Bali. During the call she heard one of their children crying in the background. When she tried to call back, there was no answer. Unsettled and unable to reach him, she contacted a neighbour and asked them to go to the house.
When the neighbours arrived and received no response to their knocking, they forced their way inside. They found Shaw, 56, originally from Fremantle in Western Australia, and his two children — a six-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl — dead inside the bungalow. The wife had left the children in her husband's care while she travelled to Jakarta in the days before the discovery.
Australian media reported that police were treating the deaths as a suspected murder-suicide, but Balinese authorities have been measured in their public statements. Officials told the BBC that the cause and manner of death had not yet been established and that further examinations would be required before any conclusions could be drawn.
The investigation continues to focus on the events surrounding that final phone call — the moment a mother heard her child's distress and lost contact with her husband. Western Australia's premier, Roger Cook, acknowledged the gravity of the case, calling it 'very confronting' and expressing his hope that the truth would emerge. For now, how three people came to die in a holiday home in one of the world's most visited destinations remains an open and deeply painful question.
A woman in Jakarta made a phone call to her husband in Bali on Sunday and heard something that stopped her cold: one of their children crying in the background. When she tried to reach him again, the line went dead. Unable to shake her worry, she called a neighbour in Kuta, the beachside district where her family was staying, and asked them to check on her home.
What the neighbours found when they arrived at the bungalow would become the subject of a police investigation that is still unfolding. Damien John Shaw, 56, and his two children—a boy of six and a girl of four—were discovered dead inside. Police say the neighbours, accompanied by other residents, forced their way into the property after knocking went unanswered. The three bodies were found within.
Shaw was from Fremantle in Western Australia. His wife had travelled to Jakarta in the days before the discovery, leaving the children in his care. The exact sequence of events that led to their deaths remains unclear. Australian media outlets reported that police were treating the case as a suspected murder-suicide, but officials in Bali have been cautious about confirming this characterization. Police told the BBC that they have not yet determined the cause or manner of death and that further examinations would be necessary before drawing any conclusions.
The investigation centres on what happened during that final phone call—the one in which the wife heard her child's distress and then lost contact with her husband. It was enough to compel her to reach out to neighbours, to ask them to go to the house, to set in motion the discovery that would follow. The specifics of what occurred inside the bungalow, and why, remain under investigation.
Roger Cook, the premier of Western Australia, released a statement acknowledging the gravity of the situation. He described it as "very confronting" and said the state's heart went out to those involved. He expressed hope that authorities would be able to determine what had happened. For now, the investigation continues, with police awaiting the results of further examinations that may clarify how three people came to be found dead in a holiday home in one of the world's most visited tourist destinations.
Citazioni salienti
This is a very sad situation; our hearts go out to everyone involved. We hope we can get to the bottom of what's gone on as soon as possible.— Roger Cook, Premier of Western Australia
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Crime & Justice