When the police cars and the ambulance turned up in Cotterill Avenue Woonona, south of Sydney last month and removed the body of 36-year-old Renae Micallef and her baby son - still alive after five days - neighbours along the suburban block couldn't believe it.
'Not another one - that's the fifth strange death in six years,' neighbour Barbara told Daily Mail Australia. 'It makes you scared to go outside.'
Since 2008, along the one residential block, there have been two brutal murders of women - three years apart - whose decomposed bodies were each found dumped in wheelie bins, the death and possible murder of a man who died in a suspicious fire, and the sudden death of Ms Micallef beside eight-month-old old baby Dylan. There has also been an alleged 'satanic' killing of a baby.
Quadruple fatality: Residents on the suburban block in Woonona, 70km south of Sydney, say the frequency of violent deaths on their street over the last six years makes them uneasy about going outside
Death alley: Along this seemingly quiet suburban street there have been at least five unnatural deaths over the last six years, including the murders of two women - three years apart - both of whose bodies were found decomposed and dumped in plastic wheelie bins
It's just a kilometre long and has around 100 houses, but the block which encompasses Cotterill Avenue, Woods Avenue and Wynn Street has seen more than its fair share of violent death over the last six years
There has also been one suicide by hanging and neighbors say they are spooked by at least two houses with drug dealers who roam the street after dark.
Resident Lysa said it was tragic that Ms Micallef had died so suddenly, the fact that it happened in her street was 'disturbingly familiar'.
''What is it about this place. You wake up one morning and you hear about another strange death and suddenly our street is in the news again. It's creepy.
'There was another death a few years back. A woman gave birth and immediately killed her baby because she thought it was a demon.'
The block of around 100 houses along a kilometre of road which encompasses Cotterill Avenue, Woods Avenue and Wynn Street lies near the railway station in Woonona, a northern beachside suburb of Wollongong, 70km south of Sydney.
The spate of deaths is this not so peaceful neck of suburbia began in 2008.
Abused, beaten, then killed: Louise Marie O'Brien (pictured) went to live with circus worker Tracey Taylor and was abused by Ms Taylor's mother who mistreated and humiliated the shy teenager before hitting her with a hammer and then letting the stricken girl die from a brain haemorrhage
House of death: Inside 26 Wynn Avenue, Woonona (pictured) teenager Louise O'Brien was subjected to terrible abuse at the hands of 73-year-old grandmother Patricia Goddard who shaved the girl's head, forced her to eat her own scabs and then killed her with a hammer, thereafter paying a man $50 to dig a hole for what she she told him, was 'a dog's body'
Body bin murder #1: Louise O'Brien, 18, at 26 Wynn Avenue, Woonona
By the time Louise Marie O'Brien had gone to live with strangers at 26 Wynn Street, Woonona, her life had already taken a tragic turn.
The slight, strawberry-blonde haired teenager, who neighbours later described as 'fragile', had gone to live with carnival worker, Tracey Taylor, in the Housing Department home after she became estranged from her own mother.
The house was already full with eight of Taylor's own or foster children and Louise lived in cramped conditions and may have suffered abuse at the hands of Taylor's mother who treated her like 'a dogsbody'.
Louise O'Brien had a short, unhappy life before she was attacked by a woman who had persecuted and her body dumped in a bin and buried
A witness later told a court that 73-year-old grandmother Patricia Goddard shaved the girl's head, made her eat from a dirty bowl, shoved pepper, salt and sauce into her mouth and even forced her to eat her own scabs off the floor
The witness also alleged Goddard had tied Louise's hands to a chair when the teen complained about washing up, forced her to drink toilet water and shaved her head when the teen chopped off a lock of her own hair
Louise died on or about October 12, 2008, after Goddard struck her in a burst of anger, either throwing a hammer at her or wielding the object, striking Louise in the jaw.
The blow initially caused a subdural haemorrhage in Ms O'Brien's brain,and while her condition deteriorated, Ms Goddard was advised to place the girl in a cold bath to try and revive her.
The court was told Louise died sometime later and a decision was allegedly made not to alert the authorities and instead, dispose of her body.
Ms O'Brien was dumped into a red wheelie bin and taken four kilometres away to the back yard of Ms Goddard's home, where a man was paid to 'dig a hole to bury a dead dog'.
Ms O'Brien was buried on Chounding Crescent, Bellambi, just five doors up from the home where her mother was living.
Back at Wynn Street, Woonona, neighbours assumed Louise had 'run away to join the circus'.
It wasn't until March 2011, acting ona tip off, that police wnt to Ms Goddard's Chounding Crescent house and dug up the backyard to find Ms O'Brien's remains.
The bin was dug in two metres between the fibro house and a timber fence. Police say the girl's mother was in 'shock and horror' when she was informed because she had thought Louise was somewhere, still alive.
'I just can’t believe it. It’s like a nightmare and I feel sick in the guts,' Jason Stella, who lived next door to the death house in Wynn Street, told the Illawarra Mercury at the time.
'As you do, occasionally you run out of a cup of sugar or something and Louise would come down to my place and ask for something and she was always so lovely,' another neighbour, Joanne McGoldrick said.
'This just seriously does not make sense, it really doesn’t. None of us can believe it.'
In 2012, Patricia Goddard pleaded guilty to Ms O'Brien's manslaughter.
Suspicious fire: Ross Wilton was living on Cotterill Avenue, Woonoona in March 28 and grieving the end of his marriage when his house, number 27, went up in flames. Police who discovered his body in the charred wreckage said at the time it could be murder
Found in the early hours: The body of father of three Ross Wilton was found by firemen after neighbours reported black smoke billowing from the home at 2am on March 5, 2008
Suspicious house fire: Ross Wilton at 27 Cotterill Avenue, Woonona
In March, 2008, Ross Wilton was still brokenhearted after the separation from his wife several years earlier.
The alcohol he had taken to console himself had caused liver damage and the pensioner had been told five weeks earlier that it would prove fatal.
Empty: The vacant block on which Ross Wilton's house once stood before it burnt down, killing him, in a fire which police regarded as 'suspicious'
But on the night of March 4, he was drinking with another man inside the fibro Housing Department home.
At around 2am, neighbours noticed that black smoke was billowing from the house and called the fire brigade.
Fireman found Mr Wilton's body inside the charred house and police established a crime scene, confirming the fire as suspicious.
Police later said Mr Wilton may have been murdered.
A man staying with Mr Wilton was treated for smoke inhalation at Wollongong Hospital. He was later interviewed by Wollongong detectives and released.
Friends described him as 'a beautiful soul'.
A neighbour told Daily Mail Australia that residents along Cotterill Avenue had been both shocked and saddened by the death of a man who had been 'friendly' and sociable.
Trying for a new life: Valmai Jane Birch (pictured) had not long moved into Woods Avenue, Woonona, north of Wollongong in March 2011 to try and turn her life around, when the 33-year-old, whose drug addiction had forced her into prostitution, was found dead and dumped in a wheelie bin in her bathroom
Collapsed on the street: Neighbours of the housing unit in Woods Avenue, Woonona (pictured) north of Woolongong where the mutilated remains of Valmai Jane Birch were found in March 2011, reported that she had collapsed on the street and noises were heard frequently coming from her flat
Body bin murder #2: Valmai Jane Birch, 34, at Flat 5/1 Woods Avenue, Woonona
Valmai Jane Birch already had a drug problem when she moved into the townhouse on Woods Avenue, Woonona.
The 34-year-old was seen by neighbours looking 'spaced out' on the street, but she was reportedly trying to cover from a drug addiction which had led her into a life of prostitution.
Sometime in early March 2011, neighbours recall hearing noises and screams coming from her home.
At about 10pm on March 22, 2011, police from the Wollongong Local Area Command attended a unit block on Woods Avenue, Woonona, after residents reported a strong smell coming from the flat Ms Birch occupied.
Upon entering the premises, officers found the mutilated remains of a woman in a wheelie bin inside the flat's bathroom.
Last seen alive: these CCTV images taken of murdered prostitute Valmai Jane Birch at Wollongong train station shortly before she was beaten to death and her body was stuffed into a wheelie bin inside her house may help lead police to her murderer
Forensic police later said the body had been in the bin for several weeks and that she had been murdered.
The case lay dormant until July this year, when police released what they believe are the last photographs of Ms Birch alive.
In an appeal to the public for clues to the death, detectives released the photographs following the discovery of images of Ms Birch from CCTV cameras at Wollongong Railway Station.
Detectives have now been able to narrow down the time period in which she was murdered.
'We believe Ms Birch was murdered between Wednesday 9 March and Monday 22 March 2011,' said Detective Acting Inspector Darryl Gunn from the Homicide Squad.
Homicide Squad detectives and police from Wollongong Local Area Command, who formed Strike Force Gareth to investigate Ms Birch’s death, have appealed for any clues or sightings of Ms Birch to help them solve her murder.
The CCTV images were taken on March 9, 2011.
'We’re particularly keen to hear from anyone who saw or spoke to Ms Birch during February or March 2011,' Inspector Gunn said.
'It doesn’t matter how small or insignificant the information may seem, it could help us crack this case and bring whoever is responsible for Ms Birch’s death to justice.
'Please remember, information can be provided anonymously and will be treated confidentially.'
Five days: Baby Dylan Micallef (pictured, left, in the arms of his half sister and, right, being bathed by his grandmother, Kerrie) suvived for up to five days in the house where his mother died suddenly of a suspected overdose
Miracle house: 61 Cotterill Avenue, Woonoona, where eight-month-old Dylan Micallef lay by his mother for up to five days after she succumbed to a suspected drug overdose
Crime scene: Police attended the house where 36-year-old Renae Micallef had been living. Although neighbours hadn't seen the usually cheerful woman on her daily walks since the previous Thursday, they were startled to learn on September 16 that she had died - and that her baby son was alive in the house with her
Residents on Cotteril Avenue, Woonona woke on the morning of Tuesday September 16 to find their street was a crime scene.
After 36-year-old Renae Micaellef - mother of a baby boy who was often seen walking the street and talking with neighbours - had failed to respond to a note left by authorities five days earlier, the last day she had been seen out in public.
Police found Ms Micallef dead on the floor of the house. Alongside her was her eight-month-old baby son, alive, but in a deteriorated condition.
Baby Dylan was rushed to a Wollongong hospital, then transferred to the Royal Childrens Hospital in Sydney, where he made a steady recovery.
It is now believed the infant has been returned to Renae's mother, Kerrie, where he will live with his half sisters, two daughters of Ms Micallef aged 13 and 15 years old.
Neighbours told Daily Mail Australia Ms Micallef had repeatedly told them she had turned her troubled life around.
'She'd come back from a shopping spree with lots of bags, all things for the baby,' a neighbour who did not want to be identified said.
'We knew she'd had problems, but she looked really happy. That's the last time we saw her.'
Ms Micallef lived in the small fibro Department of Housing home for several years, following a motorbike accident that left her with chronic back pain, a limp and an addiction to pain killers.
'She was doing really well and now this,' another neighbour said.
'We're all just stunned. But it wasn't deliberate. It was an accident.
'There's no way she would have left her little boy on his own.
'She'd just got the baby bonus and gone to Big W and spent all this money on him.
'She was very happy. We're all devastated.'
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