Human remains found in New South Wales grassland have been identified as those of Australian murder victim Samah Baker.
Baker’s on-and-off partner, James Hachem, was last year found guilty of her January 2019 murder.
He was sentenced to 24 years in jail in May this year.
On July 28 this year, a woman found human remains in grassland about 100m south of the Windellama Overpass in Goulburn.
Police this morning confirmed that those remains had now been identified as those of Baker.
In a statement, the Baker family said the pain of Samah’s death continues as each development in the case occurred.
“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,” the Baker family said.
“Each development in the case feels like a reopening of our barely healed wounds, reminding us of the harsh reality of our loss.
“Even though what remains of Samah has been found, it feels like losing her all over again.”
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Samah Baker, 30, was murdered in 2019.
The full statement can be read below.
Sydney woman Baker, 30, was in a tumultuous and sometimes violent relationship with Hachem, 37, since they had first met at work in 2015.
She ended the relationship with Hachem on multiple occasions, eventually finding a new partner in December 2018.
The court was told Hachem waited outside her apartment in his car and spied on Baker while she was on a date, becoming enraged when he witnessed the pair kissing in the early hours of January 4.
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.
Baker’s body had not been found at the time of Hachem’s sentencing.
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James Hachem was found guilty of killing her.
Statement on behalf of Samah Baker’s family
On Friday 4 January 2019, Samah was taken away from us in the cruellest way.
In the years that followed, our grief has been compounded by the fact that we have not been able to have a funeral or lay her to rest.
We never got to say goodbye to her or tell her we loved her for the last time.
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.
Each development in the case feels like a reopening of our barely healed wounds, reminding us of the harsh reality of our loss.
Even though what remains of Samah has been found, it feels like losing her all over again.
We ask for privacy in dealing with our grief.
