On the evening of December 2 2010, 24-year-old Phoebe Handsjuk was found at the bottom of a garbage chute. She had fallen 30 metres from the 12th floor of a luxury apartment building in Melbourne, Australia. She had survived the fall but suffered deep gashes from the compactor blades and sadly died from blood loss.

Phoebe Handsjuk had fallen feet first from the 12th-floor refuse room of the apartment building she was living in with her boyfriend, Ant Hampel. A toxicology report revealed she has a blood alcohol level of 0.16 and high levels of prescription drugs. This led the police coroner to rule she had entered the chute voluntarily and no other party was involved in Phoebe’s death. 

The garbage chute was two feet by nine inches and very difficult to enter. There were also no fingerprints on the outside of the chute or the handle of it. It was as if it had been wiped clean. 

Phoebe’s grandfather, a retired Detective Sergeant, was suspicious. He started asking the police questions and made his own inquiries. He wanted to test to see if someone of Phoebe’s size could fit in the chute on their own, with no help from another party. Phoebe’s grandfather did two experiments. He got friends of his granddaughter to see if they could climb into the hatch, which was more than a metre off the floor. Then a ground-level replica was made to see if the women could fit in the chute from the hatch. Both of the experiments showed it was possible, but would have been incredibly difficult, especially considering that Phoebe had taken one or two Stilnox tablets (sleeping tablets) and her blood alcohol was 0.16, indicating she was heavily intoxicated. The chute door was spring-loaded, so it would snap shut after being opened. Yet Phoebe had no bruises or injuries to her fingers, something that would have occurred if she entered the chute on her own. There also would have been fingerprints on and around the chute.

In the USA, only two people have died from accidentally falling down garbage chutes. In both of these cases, the victims fell headfirst into the chute, not feet first like Phoebe.

At the time of her death, Phoebe was living with her 40-year-old partner, Ant Hampel, in his luxury apartment. Their relationship had been rocky, with Phoebe leaving Ant several times in the weeks before her death, but always going back to him. The day before her death a mass text was sent to Phoebe’s friends and family.

It read: “HI FAMILY, I am in bed about to sleep and when I WAKE I will transform into the most incredible human bein you’ve ever seen!… (not) I will go to hospital. It’s safer there and I hear the special tonight is tomato soup… Delicious! Nutritious! I love you all very much but not enough to send an individual text. Sorry about that but time to sleep and I must b on my way… Merrily, merrily, merrily. Life is but a dream. Xo”

Phoebe struggled with alcohol. Ant described Phoebe’s drinking as ‘The Monster’. He claimed she was self-destructive and ‘struggled’ every day to do the simplest things. CCTV from earlier in the day on December 2nd, showed Phoebe stumbling as she walked out of the apartment with Ant’s dog. Phoebe’s mother said she drank to overcome her insecurities around Hampel’s friends who were older and wealthy.

The night of December 2nd, Phoebe and Ant had plans to meet Phoebe’s father for dinner but when Ant got home at 6 p.m., he found broken glass and blood on the mouse and keyboard of their computer. Phoebe’s purse and keys were on the kitchen counter. Ant wasn’t particularly worried about where Phoebe was at this time. He ordered a takeaway from the restaurant they planned to have dinner at that night. The delivery man told Ant about police being in the lobby. Phoebe was found just after 7 p.m. by a concierge in the refuse room. 

Police failed to get the CCTV footage from the apartment building and they did not test shoe prints leading away from the apartment. They also did not test the blood inside Ant and Phoebe’s apartment. Phoebe’s phone was never found and the SIM card from the phone she shared with Ant went missing. Police also did not seize their computer until months later. Unfortunately, there were a lot of things that were overlooked.

In 2013, Phoebe’s family raised enough money to cover the fees for an official inquest into her death. The coroner ruled again that there was no foul play, even though his assisting council advised him that the blood in the apartment, bruising to Phoebe’s arms and the chute being wiped clean of prints was enough to indicate the possibility of murder. The coroner completely ignored his assisting counsel, something which is rather uncommon, instead agreeing with Ant Hampel’s barrister that the evidence pointed to Phoebe taking her own life. This time though, it was determined that it may have been an accident rather than suicide.

Phoebe’s family felt they did not get the justice they deserved and that there was more evidence that the police missed. They never pointed the finger at Ant, but they do feel another party may be responsible for their daughter’s death.

Sources:

https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/mysterious-death-of-phoebe-handsjuk/

https://www.phoebehandsjuk.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq4qVwouXuI

https://crimereads.com/an-australian-death-and-a-suspicious-ruling-of-suicide/

https://www.marieclaire.com.au/what-happened-to-phoebe-handsjuk