A New Zealand woman callously murdered in Sydney yesterday ate, slept and dreamt nursing, her distraught father said today.
Police are hunting a man seen running from a property where Michelle Beets was believed to have been stabbed to death in north Sydney yesterday.
Ms Beets, who worked at the Royal North Shore Hospital's accident and emergency department, was found on the patio of her home about 6.20pm after neighbours reported hearing screaming.
Police superintendent Terence Dalton said two residents walking their dog past Ms Beets property stumbled across the killer while he was still near the body.
"It would appear the attacker could have been disturbed by the people walking past with the dog because certainly after the murder has been committed he has run off," he said.
The residents said the man was wearing a green jumper, possibly with a hood, and he had a backpack.
Police would not confirm the nature of Ms Beets injuries but it is understood she had been stabbed.
It is believed Ms Beets had just returned home from work to the house she shared with de facto partner David Grant when she was attacked, possibly by a burglar.
Ms Beets' elder brother Marty described her as "reserved and quiet" but someone who "didn't take any nonsense".
Mr Beets, who lives in Auckland, said police told him her shed door had been "jimmied or mucked around with".
Her father Robby Beets, 87, who lost his wife to cancer two years ago, said he did not know what to do now that his eldest daughter had been killed.
"There's my little Michelle gone," he told the Sydney Morning Herald from his home in Cambroon on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
"She was ... very dynamic. She could not stand fools and she was always rushing about."
"She just ate, slept and dreamt nursing. She took me to the hospital to visit old people to let me know how lucky I was to be still healthy at my age.
"She introduced [all the way from] the cleaner on the floor to the top doctor in the hospital. She was really well liked."
Tributes poured in as her family prepared to fly to Sydney for the funeral.
Deputy director of Royal North Shore Hospital's emergency department Robert Day told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that the department had lost a "friend and a leader".
Ms Beets had worked in the emergency department for 25 years, including for the past 10 as the nurse unit manager.
"We know very few of the details about what happened but it makes little sense to us," Dr Day said.
"We see a lot of tragedies in the emergency department but this is very close to us."
Assistant secretary of the NSW Nurses' Association Judith Kieja said Ms Beets was an active member of the union and her colleagues were "pretty devastated" about her death.
"She was a member of ours and we did consult her on issues relating to the nursing workforce."
Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said Ms Beets dedicated her life to helping others and was a passionate advocate for nurses and patients.
"Michelle Beets was a dedicated nurse of 40 years experience, 25 of them carried out at Royal North Shore Hospital," she said in a statement.
"She spoke passionately at a parliamentary inquiry about the need for more nurses, and was a strong advocate for having the right mix of experienced and junior nurses in our hospital wards."
Police are investigating the possibility the 57-year-old disturbed a thief at the house she shared with her de facto husband, who wasn't home at the time.
She had suffered some particularly callous injuries "which we won't be going into further at this stage," police Superintendent Terence Dalton told reporters.
He would not confirm reports Ms Beets was stabbed, or whether a weapon had been recovered from the crime scene.
Supt Dalton suggested the killer may have been at the address to steal property, and such crimes were uncommon in the area.
"Chatswood is, I would call, a low-crime area," he said. "It is a good neighbourhood. It is safe and you don't expect this type of crime to happen in this area."
