Family expresses grief after police identify Samah Baker's body at Goulburn

Police confirmed on Thursday, August 31 that human remains discovered beside the Hume Highway bypass on July 28 were that of 30-year-old Sydney woman, Samah Baker, whom the NSW Supreme Court found was murdered on April 4, 2019.

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In a statement, her family said Samah was taken away from them "in the cruelest way."

"In the years that followed, our grief has been compounded by the fact that we have not been able to have a funeral or lay her to rest," they said.

"We never got to say goodbye to her or tell her we loved her for the last time.

"The news of her remains being discovered four and a half years later isn't a neat resolution, but it does offer a small measure of what we've been longing for all this time.

"Each development in the case feels like a reopening of our barely healed wounds, reminding us of the harsh reality of our loss.

"Even though what remains of Samah has been found, it feels like losing her all over again."

The family has asked for privacy in dealing with their grief.

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A woman collecting cans on the Hume Highway bypass at 9am on July 28 alerted police when she found human remains, 100 metres south of the Windellama Road overpass. The Public Order and Riot Squad conducted extensive further searches and forensics has examined the items over the past month.

"Following the examination and analysis by NSW Health Pathology, the remains have been confirmed as belonging to 30-year-old Samah Baker," police said in a statement.

The identification ended a four and a half year investigation which involved police searches in bushland at Yarra, near Goulburn, in March 2019 and at South Nowra the following May for Ms Baker's body.

In May, 2023, Justice Robertson Wright sentenced 37-year-old James Hachem to 24 years' prison over Ms Baker's murder, with a non-parole period of 18 years, backdated to his 2019 arrest. He will be eligible for parole in March, 2037.

Hachem has never revealed the whereabouts of Ms Baker's body.

In May, the NSW Supreme Court was told Hachem and Ms Baker were in a previous "violent and tumultuous" relationship. She had ended the relationship on "multiple occasions" before Ms Baker found a new partner in December, 2018.

The court heard Hachem had waited outside her apartment in his car and spied on her while she was on a date, becoming enraged when he witnessed the pair kissing in the early hours of January 4.

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He had then lured her out of her apartment before killing her.

The court was told Hachem had then purchased various items from Bunnings, including a double sheet, gloves, cleaning products and a digging trowel, before driving to isolated areas in rural NSW.

"The offending involves fatal violence towards a female partner, arising out of his jealousy and anger because of her being with another man," Justice Wright said.

At Hachem's court sentencing, Ms Baker's sister, Elena, said their mother was "emotionally drowning" because of Samah's murder.

"She has crumbled with sadness, grief, regret and the never-ending taunting dialogue that it was somehow her fault," she said.

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Elena Baker told Justice Robertson Wright that her family now approached life with extreme caution and distrust of others.

She expressed sadness she would never again hear her sister's voice, have fun arguments with her, visit the beach as a complete family, or celebrate special occasions together such as graduations or weddings.

"She made humanity seem a whole lot brighter because of those hopeful sparkling green eyes," Ms Baker told the court.

Following this week's identification, police will continue to liaise with the coroner.

- With AAP.