I live locally and have a connection to the school where Cheryl worked. It has been such a shock to our school community, impossible to comprehend.
I don't think there is anything odd about the staff members going to check on her on the Wednesday. Ordinarily teachers call in sick so that relief teachers can be arranged. Otherwise you'd end up with a class of children sitting there at 8.30 am with no teacher. It would rarely, if ever, happen that a teacher just didn't turn up, i imagine a missed alarm or car trouble might be the only exceptions. I imagine her colleagues tried to contact her by phone with no success through the morning. I think one or two colleagues then went to the home during lunch period. The home is about most 10 minutes away from the school.
How horrific for her colleagues to find Cheryl and her husband like that!
I think it's relevant that the police have not issues any warnings to local residents as you might expect if they suspected it was a random attack.
I wonder if they are watching and waiting for their suspect to crack or reveal themselves by their actions in the days ahead?
I wish the police well, such a tough job and so important.