One of the Fairy Hill car crash victims sent the mother of his child a disturbing video from the car moments before it plunged into a river, leaving distraught family and friends questioning whether it was an accident.
Jordan Chetcuti, 26, was killed alongside Tristan ‘Tizzy’ English, 26, when their Ford Falcon XR6 veered off Droney Bridge and into the Richmond River at Fairy Hill, near Casino, on Wednesday night.
The third occupant, Tarliah Leigh Defina, 24, is understood to have been behind the wheel of the high-powered vehicle that belonged to her step-father Adam ‘Richo’ Richards. She managed to escape unharmed before the vehicle went under.
Daily Mail can reveal the 24-year-old lost her licence one week before the crash after she was caught driving on an expired licence with drugs in her system.
According to reports she ran 2 kilometres to raise the alarm at a nearby property to call for help.
When emergency services arrived at the scene the rescue operation turned into a recovery effort.
Chloe O’Halloran, the ex-partner of Chetcuti, and mother to his only child Anarki said she isn’t convinced the fatality was an accident after receiving a chilling video from her ex shortly before the vehicle is understood to have careened into a nearby river. The video appeared to show a man’s dirt covered foot while music blared in the background.
‘I knew something was very wrong. It’s not like Jordan, I felt sick to my stomach and I knew he was in trouble and he was scared,’ she said.
‘The message came at 9.56pm, then after that he stopped responding, that’s not like (him) not to respond to me.’
After viewing her exes body at Lismore base hospital on Friday she said her suspicions were further confirmed.
‘It looked like he had been beaten, he had a broken neck, injuries not conducive to a car crash.’
The mother-of-one said her ex had changed after recently getting out of prison, which he frequented over a two year period.
‘He was a changed man when he left Clarence [correctional centre] on Sunday, he was ready to be a parent,’ she said.
‘We met up at the park and he was so patient with Anarki, who is non-verbal autistic… he bought him lunch and a toy from the cheap shop.’
‘I feel like his life was ripped from my son before he got a chance to even be a dad,’ she added.
Tristan’s mother, Nancy English echoed Chloe’s suspicion the crash wasn’t an accident or misadventure gone wrong.
‘I don’t believe this was an accident’ she said.
‘Someone is behind this… I feel there is a cover-up… How did my big strong boy get stuck in the car? It doesn’t make sense.’
Both women also raised suspicion over the car’s ‘caved-in roof’.
‘I wondered if they crashed prior to going in the river,’ Nancy said.
On Thursday, police and SES crews retrieved the men’s bodies from the submerged car.
On Friday they returned to the site where a police diver was seen scouring the water’s edge.
Tributes for the men have flooded social media with friends and family paying tribute to the young men.
Mr Chetcuti’s aunt, Kiara Piening, took to social media with a tribute on Thursday night.
‘It’s still so surreal that you grew your wings last night. The last thing you said to me was ”not a good time I’ll call you back” and here I am now forever waiting on that call,’ she said.
Ms Piening said she would miss her nephew’s regular phone calls.
‘I’ve gone from having you kill my life by peppering my phone non-stop to just wishing you’d call knowing I’ll never hear from you again.
‘I’ll forever be grateful for all the great memories we shared and our random adventures.
‘It was through circumstances I met you but through loyalties that I came to love you as if you were my own.’
Mr Chetcuti was released from behind bars a few days ago and was set to celebrate his 27th birthday.
‘Part of me wishes you never got out on Monday coz then I’d still get to see you Saturday… But I know that I have to keep on living holding onto you with our memories,’ Ms Piening said.
‘I know I’ll see you again someday… fly high Jordan.’
Tributes have also flooded social media from Mr English’s grieving friends.
‘Rest in peace Tizzy, we’re forever gonna miss your craziness, always in our hearts’ one post read.
Mr English is understood to have grown up in Casino and spent time living in South .
In 2022, Richmond Police issued a public appeal for assistance in tracking down Mr English, then aged 23, who was wanted by virtue of a conviction warrant.
The car involved in the crash, a lime Ford Falcon XR6, was recovered from the river and towed from the scene on Thursday afternoon.
An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the single vehicle crash continues.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Locals said a sharp turn before the bridge gave drivers ‘no room for error’.
‘There are no guardrails or anything to stop you going over the bridge,’ John Miller told the ABC.
‘If you go over the bridge, you go straight into the river.’