“Three different people were ringing and texting me … not our Jayda girl,” Kellie Carter-Bell told 7NEWS, voicing the raw disbelief that gripped her family. Jayda Lou-Eve Allen Bonner, a 21-year-old Indigenous woman known to her loved ones as Jayda Allen, was found dead inside a fifth-floor apartment on Cardigan Street in Carlton about 1.45am on Saturday.
Tragic Discovery and the Police Response in Carlton
Emergency services rushed to the Cardigan Street apartment complex following a call to triple-zero, which 7NEWS understands included a claim that a woman was attempting to drown herself. Police and forensic officers instead discovered the body inside a fifth-floor unit. 7NEWS reported that the family were told by police that Jayda had been beaten to death. Homicide detectives and forensic experts processed the apartment building for upwards of 12 hours as they investigated the site.
Residents living within the complex expressed shock over the incident. Several people living in the building mentioned to 9News that they had heard prior shouting coming from the fifth floor and noted that police had visited the property previously. However, residents on nearby floors noted they heard nothing unusual on the night she was found. Police arrested a 60-year-old man in the building’s underground car park shortly after, noting he had been acting erratically. Law enforcement later released the man pending further inquiries, and a police spokesperson confirmed that the investigation remains ongoing.
A Family’s Desperate Pleas Ignored Prior to the Tragedy
The tragedy has amplified profound grief and anger among relatives, who revealed that the young woman had pleaded for help from authorities weeks before her death. Carter-Bell stated that her niece had filed a police report against an unnamed man six weeks prior to the incident. In the weeks leading up to her death, she had been living in the Carlton apartment with her partner, but her family watched helplessly as she withered away. “Jayda was like a ghost, almost. She had lost so much weight,” Carter-Bell told Nine News, describing her niece as a “shell of herself.”
Remembering her niece’s character, Carter-Bell emphasized the deep warmth she brought to those around her. “She’s had a really difficult, hard life. But was so, so, so loved,” Carter-Bell told 9News, adding that she was a caring, loving soul with a heart of gold who would do anything for you. Confronted with the devastating loss, her family issued a demand for systemic accountability. “Something needs to change. The system needs to change,” Carter-Bell told Nine News.
Femicide Crisis in Victoria and the Wider Community Outcry
Jayda’s death has also drawn sharp focus from anti-violence advocates monitoring public safety across Australia. Sherele Moody, an anti-violence advocate speaking with 7NEWS, pointed to the alarming trajectory of violence against women in the region. “With Jayda’s death, we’ve lost 13 women here in Victoria. That is equal to Queensland. So Queensland and Victoria, again, the femicide capitals of Australia,” Moody told 7NEWS. As homicide detectives continue their investigation, authorities have urged anyone with relevant information to contact Crime Stoppers.
