Amy Wensley: Grieving family’s plea to Attorney-General as police hope $1 million reward will solve cold case

The grieving parents of Perth mother Amy Wensley are hopeful a new search for answers will finally solve the case after meeting with Attorney-General Tony Buti. Emotions were high during the 30-minute meeting on Monday morning, just days after the 11th anniversary of Amy’s death and one day after her daughter Tay’s 15th birthday. “Her daughters are going through this every single day as well and they want answers too, it’s not just us,” Amy’s mother Nancy Kirk said. “No other Minister or anyone like that has sat down with us. He’s the first one to sit down and listen . . . we are so grateful.” Ms Kirk and Amy’s stepdad, Rick, said the Monday meeting was the first time they felt “hope” in a long time, after Ms Wensley’s death in 2014 was ruled a suicide. Seven years later, an inquest delivered an “open finding” and in April this year former coroner Evelyn Vicker told Seven West Media’s investigative podcast, The Truth About Amy, that she believes Ms Wensley was the victim of an “unlawful killing”. The 24-year-old was found dead in her Serpentine home, slumped behind her bedroom door, with a shotgun wound to her head. Her car’s engine was running outside, with her daughters strapped into their car seats. “She wouldn’t have put her daughter’s birthday present in the boot of her car, told her girls we’re going to nana and pops and staying there and then strap them in the car and go inside and do that” Ms Kirk said. The 2021 inquest into Amy’s death noted that her partner David Simmons was a “gun enthusiast” and the last person to see her alive, but a police cold case review concluded there was “insufficient evidence” to establish the involvement of another person in Ms Wensley’s death. “It makes me sick. He’s living his life, doing whatever he wants to do, while us as the family are raising the girls,” Ms Kirk said. “She can’t remember her mother’s voice, her mother’s love, nothing like that, because she spent the last 11 years with us. “Amy should be here raising her daughters, not us.” Police have re-opened the investigation into Ms Wensley’s death for a fourth time, with a $1 million reward on offer for information. “It is difficult to comprehend the pain and suffering that comes with losing a child or loved one and I acknowledge this has been a very difficult time for Amy Wensley’s family,” Mr Buti said on Monday. “They recently reached out to my office requesting a meeting and I was happy to listen. “The WA Police Force investigation into the death of Ms Wensley is ongoing and i hope this can provide some answers for the family.” While Mr Buti made no promises the outcome would be different this time, the Kirk’s were just grateful that he heard them out. “He’s got a daughter, so if you think about that, anyone human and he’s taken the time for us,” Mr Kirk said. “That’s all we wanted.”