‘Intertwined’: Horror find at US Wieambilla accused’s house

Prosecutors fighting to allow Australian police to give evidence in the upcoming trial of Donald Day, who is linked to the Wieambilla massacre, say the cases have chilling similarities.

Exclusive: Chilling similarities between the properties of Queensland’s Wieambilla cop killers and an Arizona man linked to the murders, including homemade sniper hides and weapons stores, have been exposed for the first time.

Prosecutors fighting to allow Australian police officers to give evidence in the upcoming trial of Arizona man Donald Day have argued the cases are “inextricably intertwined”.

In a series of exhibits filed with the District Court of Arizona, photos from Day’s property show an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, similar to that found at the Wieambilla crime scene.

The photos also reveal a sniper hide set up on top of a shipping container surrounded by sandbags, a shooting range, and a hand painted sign with a skull and bones and target alongside the words “no warning – shot fired – back off”.

Chilling similarities between the properties of Queensland’s Wieambilla cop killers and an Arizona man linked to the murders have been exposed for the first time. Picture: Arizona District Court exhibits.

The sniper hide at the Train's Wieambilla property.

“The similarities between how the Trains and defendant lived, how they guarded their property, how they planned to use violence, including firearms, on anyone who entered all go to explain the context of the threat defendant posted on YouTube,” United States prosecutors argue.

It’s alleged Day, 60, had been communicating with Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train who went on to murder two police officers and a civilian in a horrifying ambush at their Wieambilla property in 2022.

The trio were later killed in a shootout with police.

The Arizona man is due to face trial in the United States next month on charges of making interstate threats in the wake of the Wieambilla massacre in online posts communicating with and referencing the Trains.

Weapons and ammunition found at Donald Day's Arizona property. Picture: Arizona District Court exhibits

A still image from the Wieambilla Inquest showing the cache of weapons on the Train property. Picture: NewsWire handout

His lawyers applied to the court seeking the exclusion of evidence from Queensland officers about the Train case, arguing it would be unfairly prejudicial to Day.

But US prosecutors have now opposed that application, giving notice it intended to argue at trial that the location and layout of Day’s sniper hide, surveillance, firearms and ammunition stores “mirrored” the layout of the Queensland property.

“The defendant’s relationship, communications and knowledge regarding the fact that the Trains ambushed and killed police officers entering their property goes directly to his state of mind when making the video threat,” lawyers wrote in submissions to the court.

A sign outside Donald Day's Arizona property. CREDIT – Arizona District Court exhibits.

Before they were killed in a shootout with police, the Trains uploaded a video to YouTube titled “don’t be afraid”, in which they said “they came to kill us, and we killed them. If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward. We’ll see you when we get home. We’ll see you at home, Don. Love you.”

Prosecutors allege the reference to Don is a message to Day, who in a written reply, tells them “truly, from my core, I so wish that I could be with you to do what I do best. I hate it, that I am unable to.”

American man, Donald Day Jnr (L) and Gareth and Stacey Train.

In the wake of the Wieambilla murders, Day posted a video to YouTube about the Trains, saying “it breaks my f***ing heart that there’s nothing that I can do to help them,” lamenting that Australians are “not armed as we are in America”.

“And here, my brave brother and sister, a son and a daughter of the most high have done exactly what they were supposed to do, and that is to kill these f***ing devils.”

Prosecutors argue Day’s online posts and the context of what happened at Wieambilla are necessary to help a jury understand his intent.

A judge will hear the application to exclude Queensland police evidence this week.

Originally published as ‘Intertwined’: Horror find at US Wieambilla accused’s house