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Sad farewell

Two found dead at Murrabit West

Unbearable grief

THE funeral of the Swan Hill woman murdered at Murrabit West last week will be held today (Wednesday, August 20).

Patricia Busby, 41, will be farewelled at a prayer funeral service for family and friends at Birchip.

The mother of one was remembered by family as “a loving, caring soul, who will be sadly missed”.

Ms Busby, known as Trish or Pat, was shot by her partner, 43-year-old Greg Murray at his property on the night of August 9.

Detective Senior Constable Mal Simpson said police were yet to discover why Murray — who had no criminal record or intervention orders against him — had snapped.

“We know that Gregory and Patricia were together in Barham on Saturday afternoon, they were seen having a meal together,” he said.

“Patricia was talking to friends on the phone in the afternoon and night and there was nothing to indicate the events later that night.”

Ms Busby’s time of death has not yet been determined, with police awaiting further evidence to establish a timeline of events that culminated in police discovering the bodies of Murray and Ms Busby on August 10.

“We are currently waiting on ballistics and crime scene results from Victoria Police Forensic Service Department, Crime Scene and Ballistic Unit and we are hoping that will shed some more light on the order of occurrences,” Det Sen Const Simpson said.

Murray turned up at the Kerang home of his ex-wife Sonia Gray and her husband David about 11.30pm on August 9, armed with a shotgun.

He fired two shots into the home, hitting Ms Gray in the upper body and wounding Mr Gray in the shoulder.

Six children were in the home at the time of the shooting.

Following a struggle with Mr Gray and a neighbour, Murray returned to his Murrabit West property.

Police found his body and that of Ms Busby at the property about 4.30am on August 10.

Det Sen Const Simpson said police had not found anything to indicate a recent disagreement between Murray and Ms Gray.

“It has been reported that there may have been some contact between Sonia Gray and Murray [prior to the incident], but we have had no indication that there has been any contact between Sonia or her family to Gregory Murray,” he said.

Ms Gray was released from the Royal Melbourne Hospital early last week.

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