Murdered Sydney Woman Found in Bali

34-year old Heidi Murphy was found dead, stabbed 16 times in her Bali villa on Sunday afternoon, painters seeking payment found her. The painters claimed the victim owed them money for a previous job and after coming to see Ms. Murphy twice on Sunday and finding no answer and the door locked they found their own way into the villa in the afternoon.

After getting inside the villa, the painters were surprised to find blood spatter, and more surprised to find the victim wrapped in a bed sheet lying on the bed, wounds visible. The body was taken too Sanglah hospital for autopsy.

Badung Police Chief Ahmad Subarkah told reporters that, "Witness's could possibly become suspects for this case, and we are not ruling anyone out. We are basing the investigation around the alibi of those witness's, where they found the victim and when they saw the victim."

Subarkah speculated that there are two alternative motives, one is revenge and second is the workers that hadn't been paid by the victim.

On Monday police and sniffer dogs were still pouring over the scene and had so far interviewed six witnesses including the victims American husband, Benjamin Sloan.

Heidi Murphy ran a garment business in Kerobokan had only moved into the Villa Mekarsari, in North Kuta, a few weeks ago. She had planned to rent the 45 million rupiah per year ($AU 5,417) villa for a year.

The victims belongings were untouched and there was no sign of forced entry so police suspect the murderer was someone the victim knew.