Ex-NRL player Rowan Baxter and his three children have died in a car fire in a “horrific incident” on a Brisbane street this morning.
What seemed online like the image of a perfect family began to unravel three months ago and was finally shattered in a horrific act of violence that left three children dead and their mother with life-threatening injuries on a suburban Brisbane street.
The children, aged just three, four and six, were trapped in their family car as it was engulfed in flames Wednesday morning, while their mother Hannah Baxter escaped from the driver’s seat of the burning vehicle and rolled on the ground on fire.
The white SUV is suspected to have been doused with petrol and set alight by the children’s father, former NZ Warriors NRL player Rowan Baxter, 42, who also died after jumping in the passenger seat and stabbing himself.
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Stunned residents who went to 31-year-old Ms Baxter’s aid in Raven Street, Camp Hill, said she screamed: “He’s poured petrol on me’’.
Police are investigating previous acts of family violence before the suspected murders. Ms Baxter had taken the children out of the family home late last year, neighbours said.
The shocking incident unfolded near Ms Baxter’s parents’ home, where she was living with the couple’s children.
Residents ran from their homes after hearing explosions at around 8.20am and were driven back by the heat and flames. One, physio Michael Zemek, was taken to Royal Brisbane Hospital with burns after desperately trying to help.
Ms Baxter was in a critical condition in the same hospital late Wednesday.
Murray Campbell was in his home when he heard an explosion. He rushed outside and saw the car on fire about 20 metres away.
“I heard the explosion so I’d come running out,” he told The Australian, fighting back tears.
“To me it sounded like a gas bottle. I said to (a family member) then, before I even left inside, I said, `ring triple-0 it’s a gas bottle exploding’.
“Next minute, voomf, about four other explosions. By that time you couldn’t get near the vehicle, unless you had a proper suit on, you were just no hope.
“The young lady was rolling on the footpath on flames.”
He spoke to witnesses who saw the incident unfold.
“According to them this vehicle that’s obviously burnt pulled up beside them and the lady yelled out, ‘he’s poured petrol on me’,” he said.
Initial information suggests Mr Baxter filled a jerry can with petrol at a local service station before travelling to his wife’s parents’ house. The car was still on fire when emergency services crews arrived.
“I’ve been in the ambulance service for a long time and these things are always confronting when there’s children involved,” said senior operations supervisor Adrian Tong from the scene.
“It was confronting. We did all we could.”
The first ambulance crews to arrive at the scene could do little for those trapped in the burning car and “quickly moved on to the people who needed treatment’.
The good Samaritan taken to hospital, Mr Zemek, was treated for burns to his face and upper body. They were not life threatening.
Ms Baxter fared far worse. “She had severe burns to a significant part of her body,” Mr Tong said.
Detective Inspector Mark Thompson said it was a “horrific scene”.
Police were working to confirm the cause of the fire, he said.
“How the fire actually occurred has not been ascertained, so for us to call it a murder suicide or a tragic accident it is inappropriate for us to do that,” Detective Inspector Thompson said.
“That’s exactly what we’re investigating though, to try to establish what occurred here today and to compile the evidence together so we can determine exactly what happened.”
Detective Inspector Thompson said the incident was one of the most difficult he had dealt with.
“I’ve seen some horrific scenes, this is up there with some of the best of them. It’s a terrible thing to be presented with,” he said.
The Baxters owned Integr8, a fitness business in Capalaba, southeast of Brisbane. Both were trainers at the business. Ms Baxter specialised in child fitness, while according to their business’s website her husband had worked with NRL, Super Rugby and AFL clubs to improve player fitness.
Photos and videos portray an outwardly happy family, holding or playing with their three smiling children, Laianah, Aaliyah and Trey.
Only a year ago, Mr Baxter was organising a fundraiser to help his wife compete for the title of “Australasia’s fittest mum”.
In October, Mr Baxter shared a video praising his wife’s work with children at their gym.
But the gym has been closed since December. It was about that time that cracks in the couple’s relationship appeared on their social media accounts.
By late December, his posts showed the family had split when he began uploading photos of his children and messages wishing them goodnight and saying he missed them.
He made several similar posts throughout January and friends commenting to offer their support.
“Rowan Baxter chin up brother everything will work out just hang in there my bro a lot of people care about you and the situation your facing,” one friend wrote in January.
The Baxters had lived in a single-story brick and tile house in Carindale, east Brisbane, where Mr Baxter was often seen walking his daughter to a local school.
Ms Baxter and the three children moved out around December and Mr Baxter has since been living there alone, neighbours said.
The home was sealed off behind police crime scene tape on Wednesday. Its garage door was open and a small trampoline could be seen in the back yard.
“There were no arguments, nothing,” one neighbour said.
“She (Hannah) would talk to everyone. I talked to him a couple of times.”
Another neighbour said the Baxters lived there for around 18 months.
“The wife and the kids disappeared early December,” he said.
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