Police charge two people over murder of Danielle Easey
Police suspect that Danielle Easey was murdered at a home she had thought was safe, and her bashed and stabbed body was kept for nearly a fortnight before it was dumped in a creek. Two people have been charged by police.
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Danielle Easey was murdered at a home she had thought was safe, and her bashed and stabbed body was kept for nearly a fortnight before it was dumped in a creek, police will allege.
Homicide squad detectives believe Ms Easey’s social media account was hacked to access cash, as her body lay wrapped in plastic at a disused chicken processing factory before her alleged killer finally disposed of her remains.
Justin Dilosa, 33, was arrested yesterday morning at the old chicken factory at Cardiff where he had been employed and lived in a tiny brick office building as a caretaker.
His former partner, Carol “Caz” Dawson, 32, was arrested at a home at Holmesville about an hour later.
Police later charged Dilosa with murder while Dawson was charged with accessory after the fact to murder and dishonestly obtain financial advantage etc by deception.
Both were refused bail to appear before the courts today.
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The pair had been friends with Ms Easey, a mother-of-two who had couch-surfed across a number of homes around Lake Macquarie and the Central Coast in the weeks leading up to her death.
Detectives now suspect Ms Easey, known as Dell — who had fallen back into the drug scene she had fought to stay away from — was killed at one of these safe houses at Narara, on the Central Coast, on or about August 17.
Her body is believed to have later been driven to the old chicken processing facility at Cardiff, about 80km away.
Detectives believe her body was kept for nearly two weeks before being wrapped in black plastic and dumped in Cockle Creek at Killingworth, near Lake Macquarie.
It is believed Ms Easey’s body was only in the stagnant waterway for a couple of days before it was discovered by a passing motorist on August 31.
Crime scenes were established at Narara and Cardiff, where locals said Dilosa had been living and working for the past six months.
The Narara house had allegedly been used by at least one of the suspects and is believed to have been one of the places Ms Easey had been staying.
Evidence was taken from both crime scenes.
Police also seized a Mitsubishi Delica at the Cardiff factory and took it away to be analysed.
News of the arrest rocked Ms Easey’s family.
“The detectives have been great, we would like to thank the public for their support and, of course, our family and friends for helping us stay strong during this horrible ordeal,’’ Ms Easey’s brother, Brendan, said.
“It is the next step in the ordeal but at least now we can focus on Dell and how she changed all of our lives for the better.’’
Acting Detective Superintendent Jason Dickinson said the arrested pair had known Ms Easey for a number of years.
“Based on the information we have to date, there is no indication that there are other people involved in this crime,” he said.
A motive for the alleged murder is still not clear.
Ms Easey’s friend Amiee Barnes, 25, from Speers Point, yesterday told The Daily Telegraph she has had tears in her eyes since hearing about her death.
“I’ve been sleepless for weeks and all I can think about is her,” she said. “The day they said they found someone I was hoping to God it wasn’t her and then it was and it finally hit me.
“I knew she was couch surfing but I didn’t think at the time it was going to end up bad.”
“Your friend just goes quiet for a few weeks then she ends up being dead. It is so close to home.”