It’s been six long years since Kayla Hehir found her eight-month-old daughter, Talon Jai-Grace Hehir, unresponsive in the lounge room of their Frankston home. Despite an active homicide investigation by Victoria Police, no coronial inquest has been held and Ms Hehir still does not have a death certificate for her little girl.
The events unfolded on 20 June 2019, when Ms Hehir discovered Talon gravely injured. The baby was rushed to Monash Children’s Hospital but could not be revived. Medical staff noted severe internal injuries, raising suspicions of non-accidental harm. Child protection officers flagged possible shaken baby syndrome.
At the time, the only other adult present in the Frankston home was Talon’s father, who left the residence soon after her death.
For Ms Hehir, the years that followed have been a torturous wait for answers that never came.
Kayla Hehir has since partnered with anti-violence advocate Sherele Moody from Australian Femicide Watch to launch the Justice for Talon campaign. Together, they are calling for a formal coronial inquest, a public reward for information, and prioritisation of Talon’s case by police.
The campaign’s petition has already attracted more than 2,500 signatures, with supporters demanding that Talon’s death not be lost in a backlog of unresolved cases.
“Talon is missing from every part of my life—from the lives of her siblings, from our family as a whole,” Ms Hehir said.
“There isn’t a day that passes where her absence doesn’t echo through everything we do.”
Victoria Police have confirmed the investigation remains active, but have offered no timeline on when — or if — an inquest might proceed. The Coroners Court of Victoria has also declined to comment.
For Ms Hehir and her family, the wait for truth and accountability continues.
