Rising Australian comedian Eurydice Dixon was raped and murdered on Tuesday night in Melbourne, according to CNN.
The 22-year-old was walking home from a performance that night through a popular park but never made it home, according to multiple reports. The BBC reported that 19-year-old Jaymes Todd was charged with her rape and murder after handing himself over to police. According to law enforcement, the two did not know each other.
The Age newspaper reported that she sent a Facebook message to a friend just a few meters from her home, writing, “I’m almost home safe, HBU [how about you].”
Her body was found on a soccer field around 2:40 a.m. on Wednesday. Todd will head to court on October 3, according to The Age.
Her friend Tony Magnuson told The Age that he was the last person to see her alive after leaving a bar at 10:40 p.m. and heading to the supermarket for a late-night snack.
“She was happy and content. She gave me a hug, blew me a kiss and said she was going for a walk,” Magnuson said. “She was on top of the world because her gig went so well. At 12am I got a message that said ‘I’m almost home safe, HBU [how about you].’”
Dixon’s death has reminded many observers of the rape and murder of Gill Meagher, a 29-year-old woman living in Melbourne. According to the BBC, she was killed while walking home in the early hours of September 22, 2012.
It also sparked a bigger conversation about violence against women in Australia. According to the Australian government, one in five women, and one in 20 men, have experience sexual violence and threats since the age of 15. Australia’s human rights commission has previously said that the country has a “disturbingly high rate of violence against women.”
Some of Eurydice Dixon’s set from Highlander last week, recorded by her friend, Paula Ferrari. In it, Eurydice talks about gender equality and feminism. She begins, “I have a bit of a tendency to worry a lot, about things I shouldn’t worry about…” pic.twitter.com/qGJFIfR7ZJ
— Tegan Higginbotham (@TeganMH) June 14, 2018