Sophie’s family reveal heartbreak

Benjamin James Milward is wanted by Queensland police over the murder of French student Sophie Collombet.

Sophie Collombet, 21, was murdered in a suspected random attack on Brisbane's Southbank. Source: Supplied

INSIDE an envelope kept in a handbag on the sideboard of the Collombet kitchen there is a single photograph.

It's a private image that for now they only share with those close. It was taken a year ago and shows Sophie Collombet standing by the kitchen table surrounded by her brothers Guillaume and Lionel and parents Guy and Corrine.

THE VIOLENT PAST OF HUNTED MAN

A SMILE, A WAVE - AND SHE WAS GONE

It records a happy moment, broad smiles on all, particularly Sophie's face, and was taken on the day she was leaving for her latest "adventure", as she called it, to Brisbane. She had promised to come home to France.

"It was one of the last photos taken we have of her," her mother said yesterday as the family stood around the same table almost in the exact spot, in a near identical image one year on — except the smiles are long gone and one person is missing.

Overwhelming grief ... Sophie Collombet's brothers and parents - Lionel, Guillaume, Corinne and Guy - are in daily contact with Queensland Police. Picture: Ella Pellegrini Source: DailyTelegraph

No words are spoken, the photo is passed around in silence between family members again.

The distress Sophie's murder has taken on her family is etched on their creased faces and tired bloodshot eyes. In their home in the village of St-Julien-Mont-Denis high in the French Alps a saucepan with coffee is permanently on the stove for visiting well-wishers, the family's genuine village hospitality maintained in the face of unimaginable sorrow and pain. A cordless phone is also nearby as are an assortment of mobiles which ring regularly with offers of support from close friends as well as a daily call from a member of the Queensland police.

But words cannot heal the family's pain, not now at least.

Waiting for answers ... Corinne and Guy, the parents of murdered student Sophie Collombet, at their home in the village of St-Julien-Mont-Denis. Picture: Ella Pellegrini Source: DailyTelegraph

"It was a Monday," Mrs Collombet starts finally as she recalls the final words she shared with her 21-year-old daughter.

"We normally speak on a Sunday but she was telling me about a website where we could check the results of the local (French) council elections. She wanted to know what was happening in the village and told us how she was following on the site."

They would never speak again.

When Sophie's housemate reported her missing, a friend in France found a news web page with details of jewellery found on an unidentified body. She passed the web link to the family and together with Sophie's boyfriend Boris the jewellery was identified as those belonging to Sophie. Then came the call no parent should have to take.

Love of travel ... murdered French student Sophie Collombe with her boyfriend Boris. Source: Supplied

"Yes it was difficult (the call from police)," Mrs Collombet told News Corp. "We still can't believe it, we thought 'it can't be true, it's not true, it's not real' we still can't believe it has happened."

Mrs Collombet speaks haltingly, all the family members do and when one can't finish a sentence another will do it for them. It's the way it's been all week.

Guillaume said when they saw that jewellery on the website having already learnt Sophie had not been seen by friends for two days they instantly knew the worst.

"From that moment we knew straight away," he said. "All our family live around here and they all came to this home to talk about it. We would speak with Sophie once a week on (Skype) usually on a Sunday, normally from (our parents' home). Sometimes it was just my parents but other times me or Boris or Lionel and friends. It was a thing. She would tell us how great it was in Brisbane. She was an adventurer, very curious and loved travelling. She had friends everywhere."

Horrific ... CCTV footage shows Sophie Louise Collombet on the night she was murdered. Source: Supplied

Mr Collombet said he could not believe the support his family has had from Brisbane but also from across Australia

"The French embassy, the policemen, the (Brisbane) Town Hall people, everybody in Australia has done absolutely everything that is possible to help in any way," he said. "There is a website made for us in Australia where people have been posting messages and they get translated into French. French people living in Australia offer support, many people. The problem now is to get her back as soon as possible."

When asked why the family did not go to Brisbane when fingerprint and dental x-ray records kept matched what police found in the park near William Jolly Bridge, Mr Collombet becomes emotional.

Beyond comprehension ... floral tributes at the rotunda in Kurilpa Park where Sophie Collombet's body was found. Source: News Corp Australia

"At the beginning we couldn't decide as soon as we got the news, we couldn't make decision and also the first information they told us was she was unrecognisable so we didn't go for that reason," he said.

"But after a while we found out she was still pretty, beautiful."

Evidence of Sophie is everywhere about the Collombet home. On the mantle is a clock in the shape of a map of Australia which Sophie sent over for her mother's 50th birthday; on the fridge are postcards of koalas, Brisbane by night, Australian landscapes. Her image is also on a cushion on the sofa where family dog Isope likes to sit.

"She was happy always, always with a smile," Lionel, who travelled to Brisbane to see his sister last September, said. "She got along with everybody and had many friends everywhere."

Police have released CCTV footage of Sophie Collombet leaving a bus at the Cultural Centre Bus Stop from the night she was murdered.

Her wide circle of friends were across the globe, explains Mr Collombet.

"She studied a lot overseas, starting when she was really young not even 18. She did one year of languages in Chambery (south-eastern France city) then she went to Denmark in her second year and she was still not quite 18. She could have stayed in Chambery but she wanted to go. Third year she came back to France to study in Chambery again, then after that did work experience with a company in Berlin, Germany, then after to Australia. She was to come back in June."

When asked where she considered home, all said without a doubt France and the village of St-Julien-Mont-Denis surrounded by alpine peaks where she loved to ski.

"She was coming back in two months, to say hello to friends and family and then leave maybe again," Lionel said. "She didn't have an idea of where to go next, although maybe she knew and didn't tell us."

Mrs Collombet added: "That was her life. She wanted to travel she didn't want to stay too long in the same place. She would come back to France and go and come back to France again and go away to discover."

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