Chilling detail behind mum and child’s cliff plunge: It was her ‘favourite place’
New details have emerged about a woman and her toddler who plunged to their deaths from a NSW lookout in a suspected murder-suicide.
Megan Palin@megan_palin
May 23, 201911:17am
news.com.au
A woman and her toddler found dead at the bottom of a NSW lookout frequently visited the site prior to the suspected murder-suicide, according to an associate.
The bodies of Tanja Ludwig, 33, and her two-year-old daughter Tilly were recovered from the base of the cliff below Robertson Lookout at Mt Keira near Wollongong on Tuesday afternoon.
The tragic discovery came after emergency services were called to the site following reports of a concern for welfare.
Police investigate after the suspected murder-suicide. Picture: NineSource:Supplied
It’s believed Ms Ludwig, originally from Germany, plunged to her death in dense bushland with the child in her arms. Wollongong police have launched an investigation and are treating the deaths as a murder-suicide. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Bushwalk the Gong founder Jenae Johnston said she was friendly with Ms Ludwig, and the pair had walked through bushland at Mt Keira together just a fortnight ago.
In a chilling new detail the place where she plunged to death with her daughter was her “favourite place”, according to Ms Johnston.
“Tanja loved the bush,” Ms Johnston wrote in a Facebook post.
“She attended many of the meditation events we held in the rainforest under Robertson Lookout.
“Her last conversation with me, less than a fortnight ago, we walked along the pathway together in the rainforest and she shared how she had brought her German friends that were visiting here for walk as it was her favourite place.”
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Ms Ludwig also spoke about “how much her daughter loved the trees and how she ran along the pathway enjoying it so much”.
Tilly was just 10 days shy of her third birthday when she was killed.
“(Ms Ludwig) told me of the new trails they had explored together and the big tree she found,” she said.
“She just loved this place and was always so thankful for the experience of being in nature, meditating and staring up into the tree canopy.
“She was thankful that she could come to this place to feel so relaxed and restored.
“The last place I saw her was under the view of Robertson Lookout sharing a tea.”
Tanja Ludwig fell to her death holding her two-year-old daughter at Robertson Lookout on May 21, 2019. Picture: Facebook.Source:Supplied
Jenae Johnston ran meditation classes which Tanja Ludwig attended before her death.Source:Supplied
The bodies of Tanya Ludwig and her two-year-old daughter were recovered from the base of the cliff below Robertson’s Lookout, at Mt Keira, near Wollongong, NSW. Picture: Justin Lloyd.Source:News Corp Australia
ookout, at Mt Keira, near Wollongong, NSW. Picture: Justin Lloyd.Source:News Corp Australia
Ms Johnston told the Daily Mail “it’s important that people realise (Ms Ludwig) was not a monster”.
“Despite the circumstances and whatever led to this, she was a lovely person and that’s what she should be remembered for, not what social media is saying about her,” she said.
“I’ve been down a dark path before. We cannot judge, we can only be here to support and care for each other… she was clearly trying to help herself.”
Ms Johnston said Ms Ludwig was a spiritual person.
“Our last session, she was beaming and talking about her child… she said she’d see me next time.”
Ms Johnston wrote in a public post on social media that she was shocked to learn of Ms Ludwig and her daughter’s deaths, particularly because of where they had occurred.
“I could never of expected that you would lose your life in a place you loved so much. I just never knew,” she wrote.
“I looked through my photos this afternoon of you in one of your favourite places in the rainforest.
“Eyes closed in meditation, palms in prayer position in thanks and gratitude.
“I will always remember you in peace Tanja, peace in your favourite place.”
Tanja Ludwig is believed to have jumped to her death holding her two-year-old daughter Tilly (pictured).Source:Supplied
Tanja Ludwig and her daughter’s deaths are still being investigated by police. Picture: Facebook.Source:Facebook
Ms Ludwig recently split from her partner in amicable circumstances and had been living with her daughter in a granny flat in the Wollongong suburb of Coniston.
Her final public Facebook post, published on December 17, shared a list of suicide prevention and counselling services, including Lifeline, Beyond Blue, Mensline and Relationships Australia, titled “It’s a really tough time of year for people”.
“It’s ok not to be ok,” Ms Ludwig wrote in the caption. “We all need support sometimes.”
A picture of a beaming Ms Ludwig also referred to Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Awareness week. Her profile was bombarded with tributes as news of her and her child’s death began filtering out.
“I wish I did know you so I could’ve tried to help you find light in the dark,” one local wrote on Wednesday.
Anti-domestic violence project, The Red Heart Campaign, mourned Ms Ludwig’s child as the seventh young life killed this year.
Flowers have been laid near the lookout by members of the community touched by the tragedy.
An eerily similar incident took place on April 18, 2002, where a woman, 31, jumped off the same cliff holding her five-year-old son.
In that tragedy, the child miraculously survived the fall with his mother’s body taking the brunt of the impact, The Sydney Morning Herald reported at the time.