NSW: Gruesome slaying leads to major police investigation
By Margaret Scheikowski20 Jan 2009 7:04 PM
SYDNEY, Jan 20 AAP - The gruesome murder of a drug dealer has led to a major NSW police investigation into a string of other slayings and crimes in Sydney and on the Gold Coast.
NSW Police Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin said Strike Force Tuno initially focused on the 2001 murder of Terry Falconer, whose body was dismembered.
But more than 100 police are now involved in Strike Force Tuno 2, which is investigating seven unsolved murders, three suspected murders, two attempted murders and other criminal activities.
Anthony John Michael Perish and Sean Lawrence Waygood both were remanded in custody on Tuesday after being charged with conspiring to murder Falconer.
The drug offender was abducted by men posing as detectives while on work release from a Sydney prison on November 16, 2001.
Falconer's dismembered body was found in garbage bags on the banks of the Hastings River at Wauchope 10 days later.
Perish, 39, of the Princes Highway at Rockdale, will return to Sydney's Local Court on January 29.
Waygood, 38, of Meadowbank, who also faced other charges including attempted murder, was remanded to the same court on March 24.
Following the court appearances, police said a Monday night raid on a Merewether address linked to the men had revealed "firearms including a machine gun-style pistol, a large quantity of ammunition, items from NSW Police Force and NSW Ambulance Service uniforms and various means of disguise".
Falconer had been due to give evidence at the inquest into the deaths of Perish's grandparents Albert, 93, and Frances, 91, who were shot in June 1993. Their Leppington house was also set alight.
Det Insp Jubelin told reporters the murder of the elderly couple was part of the expanded investigation flowing from the original Falconer case.
He said "as a result of information we received", other crimes, which may be linked to the murder, were now being investigated.
They included the suspected murder of Ian Drapper, who was last seen alive in August 2000 at Mount Pritchard, and the shooting murder of Greg McDonald at Wetherill Park in January 1991.
The most recent incident was the suspicious disappearance of Victorian man Paul Elliott, who was last seen leaving a hotel at Wolli Creek on December 6, 2008.
Det Insp Jubelin said Tuno 2 detectives are also helping Queensland police investigate the murder of Michael Davies, whose body was found in his Gold Coast unit in April 2002, and the suspected murder of a mother and her toddler son, whose bodies were found at the base of a Gold Coast cliff in June 2003.
"The manner in which the crimes have been committed led us to believe there was a great deal of planning and organisation that went into the crimes," Det Insp Jubelin said.
"I am not saying that one person is responsible for all those crimes, I am prepared to say we believe people we consider suspects are responsible for more than one of those crimes."
While a lot of the crimes were "based on criminal activities", Det Insp Jubelin said not all the dead or missing were involved in crime and some were "innocent victims".
Part of the investigation related to drug matters.
He said police were confident of further arrests.
