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Home / World

Dad, baby son found dead in murder-suicide on Sunshine Coast

news.com.au
6 Feb, 2019 06:34 AM3 mins to read

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A dad and his six-month-old son have been found dead at a remote campsite in Queensland. Photo / File

A dad and his six-month-old son have been found dead at a remote campsite in Queensland. Photo / File

A dad and his six-month-old baby boy have been found dead inside a car at a Queensland campsite in an incident police are investigating as a murder-suicide.

The two bodies were found inside a red Holden Commodore on Roys Rd in Coochin Creek on the Sunshine Coast around 8am today.

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Detective Inspector Dave Drinnen confirmed the 46-year-old deceased man was the father of the dead baby.

Mr Drinnen said the 46-year-old man and the baby's mother had recently separated after alleged domestic violence incidents.

It was the worried mother who first raised the alarm on Monday when her former partner failed to return her son in relation to a court-ordered custody arrangement.

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"It is extremely distressing, it's a very tragic incident," Mr Drinnen said.

"The mother was extremely distraught as you can imagine. It's very concerning what has taken place."

It's believed the six-month-old baby was the couple's first and only child.

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Police also confirmed allegations of domestic violence had been made against the 46-year-old before his death.

Officers conducted welfare checks on Monday and started to investigate after the baby's mother reported them both missing.

The investigation was quickly escalated to a missing person report.

Two days later, council workers made the grim discovery this morning as they wandered down the remote track just off Roys Rd camping ground, located in the Beerwah State Forest an hour north of Brisbane.

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Mr Drinnen said despite police not sending out an Amber Alert for the baby, it was still treated as a high-risk missing child investigation.

"The mere fact we had a custody incident where a child is missing with the father...where there is a threat or harm to that child, that is when we raise the alert," he said.

The family are from Redcliffe, a suburb in the Moreton Bay region, however the investigation will now be handled by the Sunshine Coast Child Protection Unit due to the location of the bodies.

The council workers who made the horrifying discovery this morning immediately called Sunshine Coast police to the remote, bush-lined track and a crime scene was established.

Forensic detectives are expected to be at the scene for the rest of the day.

In a statement released this afternoon, Queensland Police said the two bodies are yet to be formally identified.

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"At this stage, detectives are treating the death of the child as suspicious and the man's death as non-suspicious," police said.

Police were unable to confirm how the two died and a post mortem will be undertaken.

No weapons were found inside the car.

The council workers, first responders and emergency services will all be receiving assistance.

"While it's very distressing as you can imagine for the family, our first responders, those responders that are locating the deceased then the emergency workers required to attend the scene and undertake their job...it's distressing," Mr Drinnen said.

"It was absolutely horrific...a six-month-old child deceased with the father and they'd obviously been there for some time...it's a very tragic event and places a lot of pressure on our first responders.

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"This is part of the job... we have to go to and we'll be ensuring our own people get the support as well."

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