🚨Lake Illawarra: The mystery behind the Ϯɾɑgic past of skydiver Kirsten Moriarty, who was found to have ρɑssed away in her car outside the Oak Flats police station— after being “left there” for three days before anyone noticed 😨

A former councillor who was found dead inside her  car outside a police station had struggled with mental health issues since surviving a horrific skydiving accident that almost killed her, a friend says.

Kirsten Moriarty, 48, was found dead inside a sleeping bag on the back seat of her Toyota Corolla outside Lake Illawarra Police Station, 100km south of Sydney, around 4.30pm on Friday.

It is understood Ms Moriarty had attended the police station about 6.30pm on Tuesday and spent several hours waiting to speak with officers before returning to her vehicle about 9pm.

Her body was discovered in a sleeping bag on the back seat by a police officer three days later. Police say there were no obvious signs of self-harm and there is nothing to suggest her death was suspicious.

A friend, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Daily Mail that Ms Moriarty had battled physically and mentally after she was involved in a freak accident 15 years ago that almost claimed her life.

Ms Moriarty, then a 32-year-old journalist, was skydiving with friends in Queensland in July 2010 when she drifted from the planned drop zone, requiring her to make an emergency landing in a paddock at Mutdapilly, west of Brisbane.

As she prepared to touch down, she opened her parachute but it became entangled in 11,000 volt power lines – electrocuting her instantly.

She suffered severe burns to her legs, chest, and neck and was left hanging in the air for two hours while emergency teams worked to get her down.

Her heart initially stopped, but restarted after the current shorted out, with Ms Moriarty crediting her friends with ‘saving her life’ by talking to her until a cherry picker was able to bring her down to the ground.

‘I am so lucky to be alive,’ Ms Moriarty told media at the time.

At the hospital, doctors told Ms Moriarty’s loved ones that she would likely lose both her legs.

But after 16 operations and spending more than three months in hospital, she avoided the need for amputation – eventually relearning how to walk after undergoing months of physiotherapy.

‘The burns from high voltage electricity burn through every layer of the skin. They also burnt through a significant part of my muscle, which unfortunately doesn’t grow back,’ Ms Moriarty said at the time.

‘It went right down to the bone and tendon on my ankles, thighs and chest. Initially, I couldn’t even have skin grafts, I just had to have a material called Integra that they put over the wounds to try to create a wound bed for a skin graft to take.’

Her remarkable recovery – and new view of the world – spurred on successful forays into the world of politics and sport.

In 2012 she was elected to Somerset Council, northwest of Brisbane, serving as a councillor for several years.

She then went on to win a silver medal at the Queensland state championships and a bronze in the Australian National Windsuiting Championships.

In 2013, she also published a book titled ‘From Dark Days to Blue Skies’, which detailed her experience of ‘surviving the impossible against all odds’ then returning to skydiving.

‘This is a story that will offer comfort to anyone going through their own dark days and inspire readers about the power of hope, love and determination to overcome even the most extraordinarily difficult circumstances,’ the book’s summary reads.

The friend said Ms Moriarty, who was single and did not have children, moved to Europe around 2017 after leaving her position on the council.

She returned to Australia within the last five years, with several further undisclosed personal tragedies causing her to move back home to NSW, the friend said.

‘She was so intelligent and so funny,’ her friend added.

‘She worked so hard to fight her way back after the accident but her physical and mental health got too much for her to even work.’

Despite claims from police that Ms Moriarty had been living out of her  car, the friend found that hard to believe.

‘She had been staying at her parents’ holiday home in Kiama,’ the friend said.

‘She had alienated all of her family and friends in recent years. Her parents always gave her a roof over her head, but their relationship was strained.

‘She was the neatest and most meticulous person, she wouldn’t have ever lived in her car… And I guarantee it was clean and tidy.’

The friend said she did not know why Ms Moriarty went to the police station on Tuesday, but she had recently been suffering from ‘extreme paranoia’ which left her ‘firmly believing she was under surveillance’.

The friend claimed the only reason Ms Moriarty was discovered by officers was because her parents called the police to request a welfare check.

‘This was a case of a woman who was physically and mentally unwell and was let down by the police,’ the friend said.

‘She would still be [there] if her parents hadn’t called them.’

The Daily Mail has contacted NSW Police for comment.

Southern Region commander assistant commissioner Joe Cassar last week said it took so long for Ms Moriarty to be discovered because the car was parked in a ‘congested area’.

He said officers had been ‘exceptionally busy’ coming and going from the station and her windows were tinted black.

Sgt Cassar said it appeared Ms Moriarty had been living inside the vehicle and there was nothing to suggest her death was domestic violence-related.

While detectives do not believe the death was suspicious, Sgt Cassar said if there were others with information that could assist the investigation, they should contact police.

‘If someone sees a vehicle sitting somewhere for some time and it stands out, they should do something about it,’ he said.

A post-mortem is underway to determine the cause of Ms Moriarty’s death.

A crime scene was set up and a critical incident team from South Coast Police District have launched an investigation into the circumstances around the incident.

It will be the subject of an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and oversight by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.

A report will be prepared for the Coroner.

For confidential support 24/7, contact Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636