08-05-2025
EXCLUSIVE Grief-stricken granddad reveals heartbreaking way he found out his two young grandsons were dead - as cops wait to charge grandmother over their tragic deaths in rural home
A devastated grandfather has told Daily Mail Australia how he only discovered that his young grandsons were dead and their grandmother was set to be charged with the murder when he heard it on the news.
Kathleen Heggs, 66, is currently under guard in a mental health facility as detectives continue to piece together the circumstances that led to her allegedly killing her grandsons, Max, 7, and Sam, 6, this week.
Officers raced to her Coonabarabran property, about six hours north-west of Sydney in the NSW central west, at about 2pm on Monday.
It came after Heggs allegedly sent a text message to authorities to say her grandsons were dead and she planned to take her own life.
After arriving at the farm, police forced their way into Heggs' home and found the boys' bodies in different rooms and their maternal grandmother suffering self-inflicted injuries.
Detectives allege the boys had been suffocated and that no weapons had been involved but are still waiting for their cause of death to be confirmed by a post-mortem examination on Thursday.
The grandmother was taken to a mental health facility two hours away, in Orange, 'where she will be detained for the near future until she improves'.
Heggs is expected to be charged with murdering both her young grandchildren on release. She had no criminal or documented mental health history, police have said.
The boys grandfather Ronald Heggs, 65, told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that he had been devastated to learn about his grandson's death via the media this week.
He said the family were particularly distressed to see photos of the boys had been made public.
'I had to find out off the news about what happened to them,' Mr Heggs told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.
'The photos should never have been released - because they were minors - that was wrong and it has been very upsetting.'
He said the family were still coming to terms with the tragedy and did not wish to comment any further at this point.
Out of respect for Mr Heggs and his family, Daily Mail Australia has refrained from publishing photographs of the children with this article.
The boys had only lived with their grandmother in the rural town of Coonabarabran for about a year after relocating from the state's Central Coast at the start of 2024.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported the move had been prompted after Heggs 'witnessed an incident involving her family too graphic to publish details of, and became known to police as a victim of crime'.
She had been caring for the young brothers for a number of years.
Residents in the small country town of Coonabarabran, which is home to just 2,400 people, have been shattered by the horrific incident.
Family friend Kodi Brady, who has a son the same age, said he used to see Max and Sam at the school gate as well as at soccer games and karate lessons.
He said there had been no obvious warning signs the family had been struggling, describing Heggs as a 'beautiful lady'.
'It's absolutely tragic now, but (their) grandma, she was there for them all day every day,' Mr Brady told Daily Mail Australia.
'It's mind-blowing, but she's the one who took care of them. It's (alleged) breaking point, I guess.'
He described Sam and Max as 'cute little kids, full of energy'.
Though the boys and Heggs were 'fairly new' to the area, having moved from the Central Coast about 11 months ago, Mr Brady said locals were struggling to come to terms with the news.
'This is a tragedy, and it's affecting so many. Petty crime happens and that, but it's a very safe community, we don't have problems like the cities,' he said.
Peter Wilkie, the boys' karate instructor since December, heard the news from a parent after a Monday afternoon karate class, having noticed the boys were absent.
'It was a hard hit, it's hard to take to be honest. They run around, they're on the go all the time, but they were working really well,' Mr Wilkie said.
'She helped in class, she would hold the pads, and she bought everything the boys needed - (karate) uniforms, clothes and gear and all that.'
On Tuesday afternoon detectives in forensics gear could be seen examining a vehicle at the house.
Officers spent several hours searching a Mazda BT50 that was parked in the garage.
The doors of the vehicle were open and one of the detectives could be seen shining a torch into the front dashboard of the car, while the bonnet was covered in fingerprint dust.
Outside the house, laundry was still hanging from a washing line near a basketball hoop.
On Tuesday evening residents began leaving flower tributes to the boys at the entrance to Gumnut Road, the dirt road on the edge of town that leads to Emu Lane, where Heggs and the boys lived.
The local community has also organised a candlelight vigil for the young brothers in the town's Neilson Park by the Castlereagh River on Thursday evening.
NSW Police Assistant Commission Andrew Holland encouraged the community to band together in the wake of the shocking incident.
'Death in a small community has an impact on the whole community,' he said this week.
'The deaths of two young, innocent boys has a major impact.'
The house remained cordoned off and under police guard on Wednesday morning as detectives continued to investigate the crime scene.
