Woman found stabbed to death inside her unit was suffering immense rental stress before the gruesome murder and was facing eviction – as manhunt for killer continues
- Woman was murdered on Easter Sunday
- She had been facing eviction from home
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A woman who was brutally murdered on Easter Sunday was thousands of dollars in debt and facing possible eviction from her home in western Sydney.
Erin Gilbert’s money and housing troubles have been laid bare in court documents which detail her legal battles with two landlords.
The 42-year-old was found dead amid a gruesome and bloody scene at her apartment just before midday. There is no suggestion Ms Gilbert’s financial problems were linked to her death.
It is understood her husband Nicholas Gilbert found her body on a bed inside the home they shared.
Erin Gilbert (pictured) was found dead in her Merrylands apartment on Easter Sunday
Court documents reveal Ms Gilbert had money trouble at the time of her death
He told 9 News it looked like his wife was choking on blood when he found her on her back in the bedroom.
The 38-year-old said he tried to resuscitate Ms Gilbert and give her CPR but she was already dead.
He was questioned by police and released without charge.
Police confirmed the couple only moved to the area around seven months ago, but court documents show it was long enough for the Gilberts to become embroiled in two legal battles over housing.
The documents reveal the married couple were fighting their previous and current landlord over thousands of dollars in unpaid rent.
Two court orders from the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal direct the Gilberts to pay more than a total $8850 in overdue rent to their landlords.
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Ms Gilbert and her husband Nicholas were ordered to pay back thousands of dollars in rent
In October, the couple were evicted from their home on Victoria Rd in Parramatta after they breached their tenancy agreement by failing to pay more than $7780 in rent.
Only a few months later, the Gilberts were ordered to pay the outstanding rent of more than $1060 on their current home in Merrylands.
Ms Gilbert was found dead in that apartment only days after the court mandate was handed down.
She and her husband had been facing eviction by July if they didn’t meet their rental repayments.
It is understood bedsheets, a doona, and a sock were all found stained with blood at the grisly crime scene
Specialist forensic police examined the blood spattered apartment on Monday, where they took swabs of the metal balcony railing and the inside of the unit’s doorway.
It’s understood bedsheets, a doona, and a sock were all found stained with blood at the grisly crime scene.
The group of officers, dressed in blue hazmat suits, sealed a number of items from the home into brown evidence bags as uniformed officers watched on.
One bag was marked ‘mascara found next to deceased on bed in bedroom’, and stacked against the wall of the unit block with at least five others.
Police have now launched a major manhunt to find Ms Gilbert’s killers.
Mr Gilbert told 9 News he was devastated by the loss of his ‘better half’.
‘She just completed me, everything about her I miss,’ he said.
‘She finished my sentences when I struggled with words.’
