The death of a keen flute player and retired Oxford University lecturer whose body was found floating face-down in a steam four weeks after she went missing, will forever "remain a mystery", an inquest has heard.
Dr Maja O’Brien was expected to play at an orchestral concert before jetting off on a trip to Croatia, but after failing to show up, the 78-year-old was reported missing on March 28, 2019.
A month later on On April 22, 2019, an Oxfordshire Lowland Search and Rescue volunteer found a pair of feet while desperately tracing the River Thames on a boat to find the pensioner. Despite being a regular swimmer, the musician’s body was found lying face-down under a tree in Hinksey stream, off Kennington Road in Oxford, the inquest heard.
Home Office pathologist, Dr Olaf Biedrzycki, carried out a post mortem examination on Dr O’Brien’s body and discovered that she had a ‘worrying’ fracture to her left superior thyroid cartilage - often associated with strangulation.
Police launched an investigation and found that the pensioner had Google-searched ‘death by drowning’ in October 15, 2018. However, police could not rule out murder due to the fracture of a left superior thyroid cartilage and were left to speculate on four possible theories.
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The Oxfordshire coroner was told by Detective Chief Inspector James Senior that the four hypotheses were: that Dr O’Brien had left home with the intention of harming herself; that she left home with an unknown intention but came to have a medical episode causing her to fall into the river; she was harmed by someone known to her or she was harmed by an unknown third party.
The coroner head that on the night Dr O’Brien went missing from her home on Wytham Street, Oxford she went to the Oxford Academy to practice with the Cowley Orchestra. At the practice she her fellow musicians she was not going to be available in the coming weeks as she was due to go on holiday to Croatia, witness Lucy Todd told the coroner.
Recording an open conclusion, Mr Salter said: “The evidence does not fully take us in one direction or the other. Maja O’Brien left her home address on March 28, 2019. She was reported missing later that day and her body was discovered on April 22, 2019. The cause of her death following a post mortem examination, was unascertained.”
Sitting in at the inquest on Oxford was Dr O’Brien’s adopted daughter, Petra. Her teacher husband Terence appeared over video link. The inquest heard that Terry has known Dr O’Brien for 45 years, marrying in 1970 and divorcing 17 years later but they remained ‘good friends’.
Croatian-born Dr O’Brien moved to the UK and carved out a successful career, teaching at the University of Oxford, having gained her PhD in Psychology from University College, London.
Outside of her professional life, she loved music. She sang Croatian and British folk songs with her husband and was involved in choirs for most of her life.
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