Plastic wrap victim identified as police search for missing husband
Police believe the husband of the woman whose body was wrapped in plastic and dumped in a Sydney park has also been killed.
NSW
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Police believe the husband of the woman whose body was wrapped in plastic and dumped in a Sydney park has also been killed.
Homicide Squad officers seized a car that they believed transported the body of Sally Li to the dumping ground in Botany.
They said the car was not linked to either the dead woman or her partner Rex Chen, sparking a massive hunt on Saturday for a “third person”.
Untangling the motive will be crucial, with Chen having prior drug convictions, the couple having rumoured financial difficulties and Ms Li reportedly being involved in a civil court case.
Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty told reporters on Saturday that police are “trying to identify the third party”.
“A strong focus for us is mainly on Rex at the moment but we have to keep an open mind, we are looking at a strong possibility of a third party as well.”
Ms Li’s “severely decomposed” body was discovered by a jogger in Sir Joseph Banks Park, just off Foreshore Dr in Sydney’s south-east, on Monday.
Supt O’Doherty said homicide detectives were forensically testing a silver vehicle they believe was used to transport Ms Li’s body between 4am and 5am on November 30.
He called on the public to provide any information that could help police work out the movements of the vehicle.
“We are looking at associations and friends of Sally and Rex who may have been in a position to transport a body to Botany and then also to cover up the actual body at the crime scene,” he said.
Police believe the silver car was used to dispose of the body of Sally between 4am and 5am on the morning of November 30.
The search continues for Mr Chen with police “not sure whether Rex is alive or dead”.
“There’s a question mark as to whether Rex is a person of interest or a victim. We still don’t know.
“There’s no confirmation of him being seen alive since November … At this stage we believe he is in Australia but whether he is alive or dead we don’t know.”
The couple were last seen together living in Greenacre in late November and were reported missing by Sally’s mother.
“She is devastated. She was with investigators last night having been told the tragic news that her daughter is not only dead but is suspected to have been murdered.”
Police are sharing information in the hope it will help them identify the driver of the vehicle.
“It’s unusual for us to be giving information out so early in an investigation when we have only just identified a body, but I think it’s important because we have grave concerns for [Rex’s] welfare and want to know where he is,” Mr Doherty said.
The case is eerily similar to the murders of a small-time Sydney drug dealer “Sonny’’ Thanh Nguyen and his totally innocent girlfriend, Thi Kim Lien Do, both murdered before being wrapped in bedsheets and dumped in different parts of the city several years ago.
Ms Do was believed to be at the western suburbs home of Nguyen in April of 2013 when a group of unknown males broke in and killed the pair.
Police said bedspreads were used to move the bodies of Nguyen and Do, with the 39-year-old Nguyen found dumped on a street in Bankstown later that night.
Ms Do, 30, was reported missing by her brother around the time her boyfriend was killed but her body wasn’t found until 9 months later in a vacant lot in West Hoxton.
Two people were later charged with the murders but acquitted on appeal and released from jail in 2021.
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