Only the two police vans parked in the driveway of the Bligh Street unit complex gave away that something was amiss early Friday morning.
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As the Wollongong street slowly awoke, the realisation that one of their own had likely met with foul play began to sink in.
Stunned neighbours emerged from their units to find a garage at the back of the three-building complex cordoned off with police tape.
Most already knew why police were at the scene.
A yellow marker bearing the letter A had been placed just outside the open door, while inside the garage a soccer ball and yellow Tonka truck rested against the wall.
After finding Linda Stevens' 2003 Kia Rio abandoned in bushland off Foothills Road in Corrimal about 2.45pm on Thursday, police tried to track her down, but when their attempts failed they returned to the car and found her body in the boot.
A crime scene was established at the Corrimal reserve, and also at her Bligh Street unit in Wollongong.
More than 12 hours after police arrived on the scene, George Hoyn, who lives in the same block of units as Ms Stevens, told of the shocking scene inside the building as he left at 8.30am on Friday morning.
"There's a hell of a lot of blood in the stairwell there," he said.
"I can't tell you much more."
The 41-year-old Ms Stevens was last seen by neighbours on Thursday morning.
Dylan Tervij, who lives in the adjacent unit block, said he didn't know Ms Stevens well but they always exchanged pleasantries.
But he said there was something different about their exchange on Thursday morning, just hours before her death.
"She was driving and she waved to me and said 'hi'," he said.
"She was very stressed, you could see in her face she wasn't happy.
"I went to sleep in the afternoon, when I woke up I saw all the cops here."
Neighbour Melissa Cruickshank said she was shocked by her friend's disturbing death.
She said she had known Ms Stevens for 3½ years and their sons were best mates.
"She's a lovely person, never done anything wrong. She was always quiet, just dropped off her little boy to school and picked him up," she said.
Alarm bells were raised on Thursday when Ms Stevens failed to pick her nine-year-old son up from school, Ms Cruickshank said.
Public Order and Riot Squad officers arrived about 11am on Friday, combing the neighbourhood for evidence.
Forensic officers remained on the scene throughout the day gathering clues.
