Police who searched a New Zealander's home in Sydney made a gruesome discovery -- the body of a dead woman sealed in a drum.
It was the body of 23-year-old Natasha Reid, who vanished at least two months ago from her home 700km away in Brisbane.
Karl Michael Dawson, 26,appeared in Parramatta Local Court today charged with unlawful killing. He was extradited to Queensland, to appear in a Brisbane magistrates court on Saturday.
The charge is likely to be upgraded to murder.
A spokeswoman for Sydney police, Wendy Valois, confirmed that Dawson was a New Zealander.
She said Natasha Reid had been reported missing in April. Dawson had lived with Natasha Reid at her unit in Spring Hill, Brisbane, before she vanished.
Papers in the Parramatta court alleged the killing happened on February 15.
Planning for the police bust started on Monday, when Queensland detectives moved into Parramatta to link up with local police.
Queensland police spokesman Tim White said detectives spoke with Dawson on Wednesday and started searching a property in western Sydney that afternoon.
They found the body at the Parramatta address the same night.
Brisbane and Sydney police were unable to give details of Dawson's links with New Zealand.
An autopsy on Natasha Reid's body was to be done at Westmead Morgue late yesterday.
Dawson was arrested just hours before Sydney police charged another man, aged 21, with three counts of murder.
Teddy Gonzales, 46, his wife Loiva, 43, and daughter Clodine, 18, were all knifed to death in their North Ryde home in July last year. The women's throats were cut.