Rising political star Sarah Carter is believed to have died from a brain aneurysm just days after her return from an overseas trip.
The 45-year-old was treated by emergency services at her Village Way home in Maribyrnong, west Melbourne, about 3.45pm on Tuesday and could not be revived.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal her partner found her body at home.
‘They suspect it’s an aneurysm … we don’t know whether it was anything she had been aware of. It’s come as a complete shock,’ the source said.
Ms Carter, Maribyrnong’s former mayor, had just returned from a trip to Vanuatu with her employer, charity provider Save the Children.
It is understood her partner, Melbourne pilot Nikhil Roy, who she just months ago celebrated an anniversary with, found her unresponsive.
Ms Carter’s mother, Gaynor Morris, explained Mr Roy became alarmed when the councillor failed to appear at Melbourne Airport on Tuesday.
‘She hadn’t made it to the airport to meet him for their holiday together,’ she told the Herald Sun on Wednesday.
‘He went and checked on her and he literally found her dead.
‘No-one knows anything different unfortunately.’
Maribyrnong councillor Sarah Carter (pictured) was found deceased inside her Melbourne home by her partner on Tuesday
Sarah Carter (right) celebrated an anniversary with her partner, Nikhil Roy (left), in late May
It is believed Ms Carter (pictured) may have died from a brain aneurysm just days after her return from an overseas trip
The couple had already been on several international holidays together which they documented on Ms Carter’s Instagram.
On their most recent trip, she thanked her pilot boyfriend for taking her to the Pacific.
‘Grateful to have had this human fly to Port Vila (via Fiji) so that we didn’t have to spend three weeks apart,’ she said.
‘Thank you for putting up with this jet lagged, oversubscribed workaholic. I promise vacay Sarah is fun.’
The councillor was first elected to the suburban Melbourne council in 2008, before reaching the role of mayor in 2011.
Her political interests included gender equity and social justice.
Victoria Police confirmed it was preparing a report for the coroner but did not share details on her cause of death, which it said isn’t being treated as suspicious.
In 2020, Ms Carter made national headlines after hitting social media to announce her upcoming wedding was off after she received information from a third party.
Just days earlier she had announced her upcoming nuptials with Aaron Lipson, an advertising director, on Facebook.
‘On Saturday, the most amazing man I’ve ever chanced upon got down on one knee and proposed,’ Ms Carter wrote in the post, attracting hundreds of reactions on the social media website.
‘I, of course, rushed to say “yes” and just like that we’re engaged to be married. I’m the luckiest gal in all the world and can’t wait to be your wife Aaron Lipson – love you to the moon and back.’
But while celebrating the news with her friends and family and basking in the glow of well-wishers, a third party phoned her to reveal some bad news.
‘The wedding is off,’ she wrote in the second post.
‘Thank you to the woman for telling me, best to know now.
‘I’m obviously terribly embarrassed.’
High-profile former mayor Sarah Carter (left) called off her engagement to boyfriend Aaron Lipson (right) in 2020 after receiving information from a third party
Sarah Carter shared her upcoming nuptials with her boyfriend of eight months in a gushing Facebook post in 2020
It is understood Ms Carter had no shortage of male suitors in the years that followed the split and at the time of her death she was linked to Mr Roy.
In April the pair were seen boarding a plane together to Singapore before Ms Carter jetted off solo for a European adventure.
The trip away had been her first proper break from council duties in 15 years, she stated at the time.
Ms Carter had spoken publicly about her IVF journey and struggles with infertility, and during Covid lockdowns, she spoke out against the Victorian government’s pause on IVF treatment.
Tributes continued to flow on Wednesday for the beloved councillor following those by several high-profile politicians, including Bill Shorten, on Tuesday.
New South Wales MP Michael McCormack shared a touching story about Ms Carter from that trip.
‘Just last Friday night I was due to do a live cross from Port Vila to Sky News back in Australia.
‘We had all gone out for dinner at a rather busy (and therefore noisy) restaurant and the time for the interview was looming,’ he stated.
‘She arranged with the restaurant manager a quiet location, then proceeded to stack stools on top of each other on which she delicately placed food containers and a candle to balance the phone.
‘”There you go!” she declared when it was all set up. “How very professional”.
‘Sarah was pleased with her innovative ‘makeshift studio’ structure and laughed as she hurried off to get the manager to turn down the music and ever so politely ask some nearby customers to be quiet for just a few moments whilst I beamed in to Sky host Danica De Giorgio.’
There is already a push for the Victorian Government to hold a state funeral for Ms Carter.
Several high-profile politicians, including Bill Shorten (pictured with Ms Carter), paid tribute to the suburban Melbourne councillor on Tuesday night
New South Wales MP Michael McCormack with the makeshift studio Sarah Carter (right) put together during a recent trip
Ms Carter was touted by many as a future Labor MP and was well liked and known in political circles in both Melbourne and Canberra.
The first woman to be elected mayor of Maribyrnong three times, she received multiple awards for her contribution to the council since she was first elected in 2008.
She was serving her fourth consecutive term on the council at the time of her death.
