Remains of missing South Australian man Dale McCauley found at Second Valley, on the Fleurieu Peninsula

THE remains of a Willunga artist missing for 18 years are believed to have been found by police investigating one of the state’s most baffling cold-case murders.

• Alleged Dale McCauley killer refused bail over cold case
• Dale McCauley ‘was murdered over joint yacht purchase deal’

THE remains of a Willunga artist missing for 18 years are believed to have been found by police investigating one of the state’s most baffling cold-case murders.

Major Crime detectives found the remains – believed to be those of Dale McCauley, 44 – on Friday in a remote area at Second Valley, 40km west of Victor Harbor, on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Dale McCauley’s remains were allegedly found on Friday evening in scrubland off Range Rd at Second Valley, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide.

The cold-case breakthrough — on the eve of the 18th anniversary of his disappearance from his Willunga home on January 16, 1998 — came days after his alleged killer, Adrian Mahoney, 65, of Seaton, faced court charged with his murder.

Mahoney’s court appearance followed an impassioned plea from Mr McCauley’s sister, Sandra Cole-Stokes, for information leading to her brother’s body so she could “bring him home”.

Acting on information from Mahoney, police travelled to Range Rd at Second Valley, where they searched bushland and discovered human remains at 6.45pm on Friday.

Major Crime Investigation Branch officer-in-charge Detective-Superintendent Des Bray told a media conference that Mahoney had identified the location of the body, buried under some bushes 30m from East Rd, near the Deep Creek Conservation Park.

“(Mahoney) has agreed to cooperate with police and late this afternoon, accompanied by his solicitor, brought us to this location and very shortly afterwards identified what we believe to be Dale’s body, hidden under bushes about 30m from the road,” he said.

“We had actually searched part of this area with some police officers immediately prior to that and we were unable to locate it at that time so it’s probably saved us a couple of days work.”

Det-Supt Bray said the area had not been searched before for the body.

“This is the first time we’ve come to this area and as you would expect there’s possibly only the offender knew where Dale was,” he said. (okay)

“The positioning of the body was such that without the assistance of (Mahoney) today, it’s extremely unlikely that Dale would have ever have been recovered.

“We are grateful that he has finally seen fit after 18 years to disclose Dale’s body so that we can return it to his family.”

Det-Supt Bray said police hoped to be able to formally identify Mr McCauley in the coming weeks and return him to his family.

The remains of Dale McCauley are removed from scrub near Second Valley. Picture: Mark Brake

“A post mortem will be held in the coming days to determine the cause of death and hopefully start the process of identifying Dale,” he said.

“I can’t tell you how long that will take because we don’t know the condition of his body at the moment because it’s still covered. But we will be doing that as quickly as we can.”

Det-Supt Bray said police knew how Mr McCauley had died, but “it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to say”.

Court sketch of Adrian Mahoney, who is charged with murder over the disappearance of Dale McCauley. Artwork: Timothy Ide.

Det-Supt Bray said the body was laid out under scrub about 50m under some bushes.

“With the passage of time and falling vegetation it was barely visible but through (Mahoney) taking us to that location we were able to recover it.

“We had actually searched part of this area with some police officers immediately prior to that and we were unable to locate it at that time so it’s probably saved us a couple of days work.

Mrs Cole-Stokes, who lives interstate, declined to comment to The Advertiser.

Last week, she said: “I want to bring him back home. I do want to find an ending to this – Dale is my younger brother and there are no more brothers and sisters.”

The Adelaide Magistrates Court last week heard Mr McCauley was murdered following a dispute over a joint yacht purchase.

Prosecutors told the court the charges came after advances in DNA technology were able to identify blood found in Mahoney’s son’s car as Mr McCauley’s.

Before disappearing, Mr McCauley operated an art centre in a remote NT Aboriginal settlement, where he became acquainted with Mahoney.

Police say no one else is being sought over the case, which returns to court in March.

Mahoney was refused bail on Tuesday and remanded in custody.