Alleged murderer captured on CCTV before dumping body: police

The man charged with the murder of a nine-year-old girl was caught on CCTV buying 100 kilograms of sand from a Bunnings store, before allegedly trying to dump her body in the Colo River.

The man charged with the murder of a nine-year-old girl was caught on CCTV buying 100 kilograms of sand from a Bunnings store, before trying to dump her body in the Colo River, police will allege.

They will further allege that the combination of her weight, the weight of the sand and the barrel concealing her, meant he was unable to get it into the water — with NSW Police left to make a grim discovery by the banks of the Colo River on Tuesday night.

It is believed the young girl — who cannot legally be named — may have been dead for up to three days before her mother made a desperate call to Triple-zero to report her missing last Friday, January 14.

But a lack of eyewitnesses, the refusal of the accused killer to talk and the results of a post mortem not yet being returned mean her exact time of death is still being investigated.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole, Acting Commissioner Karen Webb and Deputy Commissioner David Hudson update the media. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Gaye Gerard

Police sources said homicide detectives were able to track down the alleged killer through a combination of GPS data, phone records and CCTV allegedly showing him inside the Bunnings hardware store and at a Marsden Park service station buying fuel.

It will be alleged that fuel was put into a boat driven from the Blue Mountains property where the man and girl had been staying.

But when he got to the Windsor boat ramp and tried to launch the boat, it was “inoperable”.

“Last night we obviously found the human remains.”

“What we are sure is that we will allege the accused that we charged with murder was responsible for firstly placing her in the barrel and then disposing of that barrel in the bushland where she was located,” NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said.

The body of the nine-year-old girl was found near Colo Park along the Colo river. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“There was a number of anomalies in relation to movement data in the days preceding the reporting of the missing child. Through electronic means, through GPS tracking, through CCTV tracking, we were able to establish certain facts that we will allege in relation to the vehicle he was driving and those movements, and also certain suspicious behaviour which escalated our scrutiny into his alleged involvement.

“At this stage we have no evidence to support anything else other than that we will allege the accused acted alone.”