'Midsomer' murder: mystery deepens over how Valerie Graves met her death Family friends said Mr Acres, an architect, is a former basketball player who stands over 6ft tall and would have "been there to protect" Miss Graves if he had been aware she was in danger. Police said the three family members are all assisting the investigation as witnesses, and today a 14ft motor boat belonging to the owners of the house was removed from a stream at the rear of the property as officers continued to search for clues. Detectives say they are keeping an open mind as to the motive, and have not ruled out the possibility that Miss Graves knew her attacker or was killed because she disturbed burglars who may have assumed the house was unoccupied. A Home Office pathologist is carrying out a post-mortem examination to determine the exact cause of Miss Graves's death, with the results expected to be made public overnight. No arrests have been made so far. The owners of the £1.6m property, Malcolm and Jane Chamberlain, were on holiday in Costa Rica over Christmas with their two children. They have not returned to the property, which is still being combed by forensic experts. Ernie Mears, who spent Boxing Day with Mr and Mrs Acres and Eileen Graves, said: "I haven't a clue what must have happened - it's quite beyond me. Nigel is not a little man at all, he's 6ft-odd tall and used to play basketball, as did Malcolm, and that's how they became friends. I cannot make out how Valerie has come to harm because Nigel would be there to protect them. Divorcee Miss Graves, who has a grown-up son and daughter and one grandson, had moved from her home in Scotland two months ago to the village of Bracklesham Bay, 12 miles from Bosham, to look after her increasingly frail mother. She had her own textile studio near Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders, which she set up in 2009 after graduating in constructed textiles from Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University in 2007. Bosham featured in an episode of the crime drama Midsomer Murders called Written in Blood, in which a male victim was found bludgeoned to death in his bedroom.