Daughter asks about daddy

Armed with a photo album full of his pictures, blonde-haired and blue-eyed Jaela, begs her mother to tell stories about the man cruelly taken away from her.

Her father was found beaten beyond recognition on Wombat Street at around 5am on Thursday, August 29, later dying in hospital.

His killer is yet to be found.

Speaking from her Young home, where Corey had been staying in the days before his death, Jaela’s mother Tammarra Horne said her and her four children were doing their best to cope ever since.

“We’re getting there everyday – it’s just a day-to-day thing at the moment,” she said.

Corey’s presence could still be felt in the small tidy house, with photos of Corey and Jaela, including the pamphlet from his funeral, lining the heater like a shrine.  

The 33-year-old, who’d been living in Canberra since January, had come to stay with Tammarra after breaking up with his girlfriend. 

He’d planned to stay with her until he got on his feet, with work lined up in Wagga in the coming weeks.

The two had remained close friends since their break-up two years earlier.

“I’d never close my door on him,” Tammarra said.

But, after going out on the Wednesday night to meet up with a friend, he never returned.

On the morning he was murdered, Tammarra heard via Facebook a man had died and rang police shortly afterwards.

Although they couldn’t tell her if the man was Corey, they came round to search her house.

“All day I was on edge,” Tammarra said. “I was holding hope, I don’t know.” 

It wasn’t until Corey’s sister, Phia, phoned that evening that she got confirmation.

“I was in hysterics,” she said. 

“It’s something you don’t want to hear on the phone.”

Just why Corey was murdered, Tammarra said she had no idea whatsoever.

“It was a curve ball that was thrown,” she said.

However, Tammarra revealed before Corey had moved to Canberra he was running with the wrong crowd and dealing drugs.

“He was messed up with some stuff,” she said. “I’m not going to paint a pretty picture.”

As far as Tammarra knew though, he hadn’t been involved with those people on his return and she wasn’t aware of any retribution.

Since his murder, she said, she’d had people break into her house and come into her yard.

It had scared her and she wants answers.

“I hope they find the bastards… and they get what they deserve,”  Tammarra said. 

“It’s a small town, someone’s got to know something.”

Cootamundra Local Area Command Inspector Paul Huxable said he was happy with the progress of the investigation, with homicide detectives in Young this week.

“We’ve got quite a lot of information, people to talk to, equipment to examine,” he said.

“It’s coming along nicely - we’re still confident someone will be put before the courts for this.” 

Anyone with information is being urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the online reporting page on www.police.nsw.gov.au.