Grief and pain were mixed with a small measure of sad relief when Patricia Riggs' loved ones watched as her ashes were pushed into a wall, and she was finally laid to rest, 15 years after she was reported missing.
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Dozens of mourners brought flowers and released green balloons – her favourite colour – into the sky over Queanbeyan Lawns Cemetery as they gathered to farewell Mrs Riggs who vanished in 2001.
Mrs Riggs, who was 34, had been considered missing for more than a decade before her skeletal remains were found in the backyard of what had been her Queensland home in August.
Her husband, Edmund Ian Riggs, was charged with her murder and with interfering with a corpse. Riggs is due to face court again next month.
Family and friends shed tears – a sign that time had done little to diminish the pain of her passing – as they spoke of a dedicated, fun-loving mother known for her determination, sense of humour and care for her loved ones.
Mrs Riggs' brother Michael McDonald remembered his sister as "an intelligent little dynamo", a fast learner and "a champion of the underdog" who was loved and respected by her family and friends.
She grew up in Manuka and Narrabundah and went on to Griffith Primary, Telopea Park School and Narrabundah College. Mrs Riggs – known as Trish or Tricia to her family and friends – married her husband at 17 and the couple had four children.
Mr McDonald told of Mrs Riggs' efforts to home-school her children, her home birth advocacy and success as a swimming instructor, saying she had moved to Brisbane in August 2001 with "the promise of so much more".
"But tragically seven weeks later, she was lost to us all."
Mrs Riggs' father, Jon Knowles, remembered the years of heartache which had followed her disappearance and said news his daughter had been allegedly murdered was "unbelievable".
"The worst part was not knowing where her body was and what happened to her."
He said while the ceremony was sad, it had also been a "great relief" to bring his daughter home and lay her to rest – with the respect and send-off she deserved – beside her mother, Carol Saxton.
Mrs Saxton bought a space at the cemetery for the interment of her daughter's ashes should she be found. She died in 2011 without knowing what happened to her daughter.
A memorial service was held for Mrs Riggs in Queanbeyan in 2002.
She was reported missing by her husband on September 30, 2001. He had told police she had walked out of their suburban Brisbane home at 10.30pm after an argument with him and never returned.
After years of appeals for information and rewards being posted, Mrs Riggs' remains were discovered by chance on August 21 when the current owners of the house were building a retaining wall.
Her brother, Mark Knowles, of Conder, last month said he was still in shock, trying to process that his beloved older sister had been found but also with the knowledge that she was never coming home.
