THE heartbroken mother of a young girl who was molested and murdered in her own home has spoken about the moment she discovered her daughter's lifeless body.
It an emotional television with A Current Affair, Janelle Saunders described the horrifying scene two years on from the killing of 11-year-old Zoe Buttigieg.
The mother, from Wangaratta in Victoria, told Channel Nine she is haunted every day by the cruel death. Zoe was sexually assaulted and strangled in the bedroom of her home during a party on October 25, 2016.
"She was very pale, her lips were blue," Ms Saunders told ACA. "But then the worst was pulling the rest of the doona down and she had no clothes on, and I just remember screaming, 'Where are her pants? Why doesn't she have any clothes on?'
"I just thought 'this can't be happening'."
It was the first time Ms Saunders has spoken publicly of the murder of her only child.
She said Zoe's convicted killer Bowe Maddigan went missing part-way through the night, after the young girl had gone to bed.
"We looked everywhere, we looked outside, we looked out the back, checked all the rooms, every room but hers. And that decision haunts me every day because if I'd opened that door, she'd still be here," said the devastated mother.
Wanting to set the record straight, Ms Saunders said rumours she hosted a big party that night were false. She added that the rumours sparked vile abuse on social media.
She admitted there was a small amount of cannabis consumed but no large amount of alcohol or drugs.
Her comments were broadcast following the release of a video showing Zoe's killer being questioned by detectives after he was arrested barefoot on the side of a highway in the hours after the discovery of her body.
In the interview, aired by Channel Nine last night, Maddigan told police he "couldn't pause the button".
"Monsters do that," he told police of Zoe's murder, his hands covering his face throughout the two-hour formal interview.
Maddigan initially denied killing the little girl but later told police: "It was like a bad movie ... I couldn't stop the button, I couldn't pause the button, I couldn't rewind the button. I had to sit through a horror movie," he said.
He responded to early questions by interviewers with "no comment" before asking, "Did I hurt the little girl?"
Maddigan then went on to say the evidence against him made him feel sick.
The detective conducting the interview asks: "If Zoe's mother was here with us now, what would you like to say to her?"
Maddigan responded saying: "I'm eternally sorry for what I've done and put you through."
Ms Saunders also told Channel Nine about the effect the killing had on her life.
"It's something that never goes away … this is something that will be there forever," she said.
"There's such a big hole missing from my life, because she's all I had."
Maddigan was one of the four visitors to the house the previous evening as a friend of Ms Saunders' then-partner.
"I watched everything," he cried in the police interview. "I watched it all. Did I hurt the little girl?
"It makes me feel sick."
Nine News listed Maddigan's long criminal history, including multiple convictions and seven court appearances between 2005-2014. The appearances are related to driving and alcohol-related offences and two are for breaching court orders.
In 2002, he faced children's court for several violent crimes and was sentenced to a youth attendance order and youth supervision order. In 2005, he received a fine for an assault. In 2008, he was given a 12-month community-based order for another assault. A year later, in 2009, he was fined for another attack.
He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years after a brutal robbery in Dandenong, Melbourne, where he bashed a victim unconscious. He was released on parole, which he also breached.
Less than three weeks later, he found himself in Zoe's bedroom.
During his trial, Maddigan said Zoe looked "like an angel" who he wanted "all to himself".
He pleaded guilty to the crime and was jailed for life, with a non-parole period of 28 years.
- With Matt Young
