Police receive new information after reward in Toyah Cordingley case
A $1 million reward has revealed new information as an overseas manhunt continues for a fugitive wanted over the murder of Toyah Cordingley in far Queensland four years ago.
Police & Courts
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Police say they’ve received fresh information - both from Australia and overseas - after offering an extraordinary $1 million reward for the capture of fugitive Rajwinder Singh.
Singh boarded a plane to India two days after the horrific murder of young Queensland woman Toyah Cordingley in October, 2018, leaving behind his job as a nurse in Innisfail, his wife and their young children.
Ms Cordingley, 24, was attacked and killed as she walked her dog along the picturesque Wangetti Beach in Far North Queensland.
Her body was found by her father the next morning after friends and family went to the beach to look for her.
Toyah’s dog had been left tied up near her body.
Police now know Singh flew from Cairns to Sydney the day Toyah’s body was found, staying overnight before leaving for India on October 23.
Three detectives, two from Cairns and one from the Homicide Investigation Unit, are currently in India to work with local authorities following the announcement of the reward - the largest in Queensland history - this week.
Detective Acting Superintendent Sonia Smith said police had never lost sight of the importance of catching Toyah’s suspected killer and that the same core team had remained on the case since 2018.
“It will only take one person to come forward and tell us where he is,” she said.
“We have had a positive response (to the reward offer), most definitely. We have received information from here and overseas.”
She said the reward would be paid at the discretion of the Police Commissioner and was unusual in that it was for information leading to Singh’s arrest.
Generally rewards are offered dependent on a conviction.
“It’s quite extraordinary and its obviously reflective of where we’re at in the investigation,” Det Supt Smith said.
“We have confidence that someone in some part of the world knows where he is.
“All we need is that one person to come forward and tell us and we are confident that we will get that.”
She said investigators lived in the same far north community where the murder took place - and where bumper stickers on cars in town were a constant reminder that the crime remained unsolved.
“The police are motivated by the huge amount of support that we’ve been given,” Det Supt Smith said.
“You don’t have to go too far in Cairns, even today, before you see a Toyah sticker on a vehicle. They’re still out there
“Certainly from a personal perspective, it’s a constant reminder than police have the community’s support.
“We are very much aware that the community has an expectation on us, as we do on ourselves, that we will never give up.”
Police have been distributing reward posters in English, Hindi and Punjabi and have set up a WhatsApp phone line, as well as a special landline, so people with information in India can contact them.
In Australia, police are asking that anyone with information contact them via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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