New Farm unit searched as investigation into M1 death continues

The bizarre death of a popular French teacher allegedly held captive and tortured before being hit by a truck on the M1 has led forensic officers to a tiny Brisbane unit where the man lived.

A TINY Brisbane unit has been searched by forensic officers investigating the bizarre death of a popular French teacher allegedly held captive and tortured before being hit by a truck.

Anthony Stott was killed on Monday morning when he was hit by a semi-trailer on the M1 at Cudgera Creek, south of Tweed Heads, in NSW.

Brisbane teacher Anthony Stott ‘escaped’ brutal bashing at farm before being killed by truck on M1

Private school teacher tied up, hit by semi on M1

Police have alleged Mr Stott was earlier held captive and tortured by a Cudgera Creek couple – Mark Frost, 46 and Lauren Grainger, 38 – who have both been charged with detaining the schoolteacher with intent to obtain an advantage.

It will be alleged Mr Stott, 43, a French teacher at St Peters Lutheran College at Springfield, was tied to a chair and bashed with a golf club during the six-hour ordeal.

M1 truck victim Anthony Stott's New Farm unit after police conducted a forensic search. Photo: Steve Pohlner.

Court documents show Mr Stott was allegedly held captive from 1am to 7.30am Monday. He had just returned from a trip to Peru the previous day.

Police are investigating whether the teacher escaped and ran bloodied across a paddock onto the road, where he was hit and killed.

His silver BMW had been found abandoned in the middle of the M1 nearby at 2am – but it wasn’t until he was killed that police discovered why the car was there.

Detectives from NSW and QLD are working to establish the connection between Mr Stott and the couple and how he came to be at their Kanes Rd property.

Officers continued to comb the hobby farm yesterday and are believed to be anxious to speak to other people thought to have been at the property when Mr Stott was held captive there.

“What we do know is he was there (and) he was detained against his will there,” Detective Acting Superintendent Brendan Cullen, of NSW Police, alleged.

Anthony Stott lived at New Farm unit for two or three years.

Brisbane teacher Anthony Stott. Picture: Facebook

“What we don’t know is what happened after he left that place.

“He was restrained within that place – we do believe he may have suffered injuries while in there.”

Police – including forensic officers – spent two days at a converted Queenslander in New Farm where Mr Stott is believed to have lived for the past two or three years.

Mr Stott lived in one of six units at the property, which was overgrown with plants and shrubbery.

The crash site on the Pacific Motorway, Cudgera Creek, where Anthony Stott was hit and killed by a truck on Monday morning. Picture: Scott Powick

Fingerprint dustings from police remained on the front door to his unit.

One resident at the complex said Mr Stott “kept to himself but would always wave when he took the bins out”.

Another neighbour told The Courier-Mail a woman he believed was Mr Stott’s girlfriend visited the house regularly and often drove his silver BMW.

NSW police declined to comment on whether Mr Stott’s home was a crime scene but say they remain baffled by the case, and how and why he ended up at Cudgera Creek.

Supt Cullen said the teacher’s movements from when he flew into Brisbane on Sunday afternoon to his arrival in northern NSW later that night were still shrouded in mystery.

“We haven’t really got any further insights into what transpired between the airport and getting down here (to the Tweed Valley),” he said.

Police are appealing for the public’s assistance in piecing together the final movements of Anthony Stott.

“We’ve had bits and pieces of information from the public but it doesn’t really paint a picture of what he did.”

Mr Stott was believed to have visited his parents in NSW after flying back into Australia from a trip to Peru, before returning to Brisbane.