Police begin a major new search for clues in tragic beach baby murder

A crucial new clue in the horrifying beach baby murder has been revealed as police begin a major new operation to find answers this morning.

Scores of investigators including specialist detectives and dive squads are descending on Tweed Heads in far north NSW this morning as a major new investigation into the murder of a nine-month-old girl begins.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, police officers revealed they looking for one crucial clue in particular — a black and red chequered blanket — which could link the baby’s death to her father, who has been charged with her murder.

“We have got a number of items of interest that we are searching for, in particular

a black and red chequered blanket, similar to a picnic blanket. It may have a rubber backing on one side and we are interested in this,” Detective Inspector Wayne Walpole from the NSW Homicide Squad told reporters this morning.

He said investigations that show the blanket was being carried by the family before the baby went missing.

“We believe after the baby’s murder, that blanket is no longer in their possession,” he added.

He said witnesses may have seen the blanket as there was a significant storm at the time of the suspected murder — now believed to be between 6-7pm on Saturday, November 17 — and he added that people would have been out and about to catch glimpses and pictures of the lightening. Mr Walpole added a large number of holiday-makers would have also been around at the time.

It is alleged the tiny girl — who cannot be named — was thrown into a river last weekend before her body was found washed up on a Surfers Paradise beach on the Gold Coast last week.

Today, water police and divers will search the Tweed River — where it’s believed the child was thrown into the water — and foreshore areas while specialists from the Public Order and Riot Squad will scour foreshores and parkland around Jack Evans Harbour and Cunningham Park for new clues.

Yesterday, locals told the Courier Mail they spotted officers and police divers spending several hours on the Tweed River simulating the alleged crime.

Locals told the Courier Mail they saw police throwing objects into the water. Picture: Greg Stolz

“They looked like they were throwing clothing into the river,” a local resident told the newspaper. “There were police divers and a cameraman so it was clearly some sort of re-enactment or simulation-type exercise.”

However, police have refused to comment on the specifics of the investigation as it is ongoing.

Today, police divers are conducting dives in line with tidal and current flows to try to determine what happened on the day of the incident.

It comes after court documents revealed the tragic final moments of a tiny baby’s life before she was found washed up on Surfers Paradise beach.

The documents, seen by the Gold Coast Bulletin, reveal fresh police allegations that the 47-year-old dad told the mother he was taking the baby to an elder, but murdered her instead by throwing her into the Tweed River — 30km south of where the tiny girl was discovered.

The family cannot be named for legal reasons.

In the documents, police reportedly claim he left the mum and their other young child in the car park of Tweed Mall for about half an hour on Saturday night while he dumped the baby, who was wearing only a nappy.

It came shortly after it was revealed that the 23-year-old young mum, originally from Victoria, was a private schoolgirl and a popular university student before she found herself homeless with two kids and a middle-aged boyfriend.

The Aboriginal women and men who spent time with the homeless family told The Australian the 47-year-old father-of-two “sung” his young love interest.

Edy Johnson, 53, a woman who lives at Jack Evans Boat Harbour in Tweed Heads, on the New South Wales and Queensland border, said being “sung” to means you can’t move on past the relationship.

A major new operation begins this morning. Picture: AAP/John Gass

“They can put a song in that person’s head and it makes them come back to that person that sung them,” she told the newspaper.

“Once you are sung, you can’t get out of that relationship and that’s what happened here.”

The young mum, who is still recovering under the care of Queensland mental health services, was a former student of a private Clonard College in Victoria and later studied for a Bachelor of Psychology Services at Deakin University. Her online profiles show she was described as popular and respected by her peers in school.

However, this all fell apart in 2011 when she is understood to have travelled to Queensland after meeting her middle-aged boyfriend in a Melbourne park.

A family member of the mother, reportedly told the Daily Mail, he approached her and began a conversation before the pair quickly “hit it off”

Dozens of locals turned out for vigil for the baby girl last week. Picture: Adam Head

However, they added that something seemed off about the relationship, particularly when they tried to give their baby girl to relatives about three months ago but not their two-year-old son.

A friend of the family, Kirsty Davis, told The Australian the parents ­approached her at Tweed Heads, just south of the Gold Coast, on Saturday and asked her to take the child as it was “too fair-skinned”.

“I wouldn’t have minded raising the child but I’m living on the street and I’m not stabilised,” Ms Davis told the newspaper. “If I had a place, yeah, I would have.”

The father allegedly believed the child was possessed by demons.

Police are also asking for anyone who was in the area on the night of November 17 to come forward.