Homeless man already in jail charged with murder of surfer Kye Schaefer in beach carpark

"That encounter on that morning ended in a senseless act of violence causing Kye’s death…"

Detectives have used closed circuit cameras to track down the man they believe murdered  surfer Kyle Schaefer who was killed in a beach carpark in Coffs Harbour, a rough sorta joint on that milk-and-honey north coast run from Sydney to Byron.

Bright-faced Kye Schaefer, twenty-one, a stonemason, had just wrapped up a surf and was readying for work when he was stabbed by the then unknown assailant and found dying in the beach carpark, still in his wetsuit.

“I think no words can sort of ultimately describe how we’re feeling,” said Kye’s mum, Pam Schaefer. “Just the sheer loss of our faith in humanity, really — that’s pretty much it… He didn’t do anything wrong. He was just going for a surf before he went to work.”

Coffs Harbour mayor Paul Amos described the attack as “random” adding, “I like other people in Coffs Harbour do the early morning swim, have the early morning walk along the beach … and some poor person has decided to do just that and for some random reason this event has occurred.”

Yesterday, Coffs detectives charged 36-year-old homeless man Matthew Willacy with the fatal stabbing.

Incredibly, police say that on the same day he allegedly killed Kyle Schaefer, he was arrested for an unrelated robbery. And, as Schaefer’s parents appealed for his killer to come forward, he was already behind bars at Grafton’s Clarence Correctional Centre.

Ergo, real easy to arrest him.

Willacy was taken to Coffs police station, charged with murder and appeared in court that afternoon where he was refused bail.

No motive has been established for the murder and police say neither man knew each other.

“That encounter on that morning ended in a senseless act of violence causing Kye’s death,” Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty Doherty said.

The murder weapon is yet to be found.