Fernando Manrique meant to flee to Philippines to live with teenage lover after gassing family to death

Fernando Manrique was more interested in having unprotected sex overseas and getting a “sleeve” tattoo than helping his wife care for their two autistic children, a coronial police report reveals. He also planned to flee to the Philippines to live with his teenage lover in a newly purchased ­property.

• Secret life of Fernando Manrique who gassed his family
• Maria Lutz loved her children with everything she had

A murdering father who used ­carbon monoxide to kill his family and himself in their northern beaches home was in the midst of a midlife crisis and planned to flee overseas to live with his teenage lover in a newly purchased ­property in the Philippines.

The shocking details of Fernando Manrique’s tawdry ­private life were laid bare in an 87-page police report by the ­detective in charge of the ­coronial investigation into the Colombian’s heinous crime.

It revealed the 44-year-old businessman was more interested in having unprotected sex overseas, getting a “sleeve” tattoo and riding elephants than helping his wife Maria Lutz care for their two autistic children — Elise, 11, and Martin, 10.

A photo shown in a tribute to the Lutz-Manrique family at their funeral shows Maria and Fernando with children Martin and Elise. Picture: Supplied

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Detective Sergeant Tim Pooley also ­believes Manrique was “inadvertently overcome” by fumes as he tried to leave his house, after spending days rigging up numerous pipes in the ceiling to pump gas into the bedrooms where his family slept.

Manrique’s body was found face down in the hall, he had a suitcase packed and $750 cash in his wallet — even though he had little money in his bank accounts and large debts.

The coronial findings into the deaths of the four at their Davidson home in October 16, 2016, will be handed down by Deputy Coroner Elaine Truscott on Thursday.

The couple on their wedding day. Picture: Supplied

Call records revealed the last person to try to phone Manrique on the night he murdered his family was his 19-year-old Filipina girlfriend Jaymilyn “Jamie” Gumangan.

But police do not know why Ms ­Gumangan called him because his phone has never been found and Sgt Pooley believes he deliberately des­troyed it to cover his tracks.

Police have also never been able to find Ms Gumangan in the Philippines.

Sgt Pooley’s investigation found Manrique and Ms Lutz’s marriage had been strained since 2013 when he ­started a new job with Drake Business Logistics. It required him to frequently travel overseas, during which time he slept with other women.

Maria Lutz was a devoted mother to her two autistic children but was often exhausted because her husband was away frequently. Picture: Facebook

Leesa Cluff, a family friend of 10 years, told police he was “acting in a midlife crisis, posting pictures of riding elephants in Thailand and coming home with a full sleeve tattoo”.

Medical records revealed Manrique went to the doctors twice in a month during 2014 after having unprotected sex on two occasions in Bangkok and in 2015 was prescribed Viagra. Austrac records showed he sent money to three young girlfriends in Vietnam and the Philippines between 2015 and 2016, the most recent being Ms Gumangan.

Manrique with a colleague’s baby in 2012.

Manrique travelled frequently for work. Picture: Facebook

Filipino detectives interviewed his work colleague in the Philippines, Krees Castaneda, who had met Ms ­Gumangan when she found the teenager living in the company’s Manila unit and evicted her.

Ms Gumangan said she had met Manrique in Manila’s red light district in 2016 and stayed in his unit when he was in the country.

Members of the Columbian community gather outside the home in Davidson. Picture: Craig Greenhill

Manrique was paying her a ­retainer of around $826 a month and they had purchased a property ­together for $6064.

But while he was wiring cash to girlfriends overseas he was drowning in debt in Australia. Bank records showed he had a credit card debt of $28,706 and owed the Australian Taxation ­Office $14,294.

Statements from the police report.

Sgt Pooley believes by then Manrique’s plan to murder his family was in full flight as he had already purchased two carbon monoxide cylinders for $4000 and bought $700 in hardware to rig up the deadly network of pipes.

In the month before her death, Ms Lutz told Manrique twice to leave the family home. On the last occasion, October 14, he asked her for three more weeks so he could find somewhere to live. Two days later they were dead.

“Fernando had intentions to move to the Philippines … and to live with Jamie. He had no intention of taking his own life,” Sgt Pooley’s report said.

The Davidson community and school where the children attended were devastated by the family deaths. Picture: John Grainger

He wrote Manrique only plumbed the gas through the ceiling fans into Martin’s bedroom and Ms Lutz’s room where she usually slept with Elise.

During the inquest Counsel Assisting the Coroner Adam Casselden ­expressed doubt about Sgt Pooley’s theory. He said it was perplexing why Manrique, knowing how poisonous carbon monoxide was, would be inside the house with all the doors locked. He also said Manrique had not booked flights and his suitcase may have been packed as he was a frequent traveller.