Body found in NSW may be fugitive wanted over triple murder

Police in central west New South Wales found a decomposed male body beside an abandoned ute in a remote nature reserve on Monday, in a discovery they believe may end the four-month hunt for Julian Ingram, the 37-year-old wanted over the Lake Cargelligo triple murder.

The body was found about 50 kilometres north-west of Lake Cargelligo, next to a firearm in Round Hill Nature Reserve. Officers said the clothes and vehicle matched Ingram, but formal identification had not yet been completed. Police also said Ingram’s licence was found inside the ute, a white Ford Ranger that they believe was the same vehicle seen leaving the scene of the killings.

Ingram vanished after the shootings on January 22, when Sophie Quinn, 25, her friend John Harris, 32, and Quinn’s aunt, Nerida Quinn, 50, were killed in Lake Cargelligo. Sophie Quinn was heavily pregnant at the time. A fourth victim, 19-year-old Kaleb Macqueen, survived after also being shot.

Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland said the discovery would bring “closure” and “relief” to the town, the victims’ families and the officers who had spent months searching for Ingram. He said “hundreds of police” had been involved in the operation, while earlier searches drew more than 100 officers into remote country around Lake Cargelligo and surrounding districts.

Police had previously described Ingram as armed and dangerous. They also said he was on bail for alleged domestic violence charges when the killings happened and had never held a gun licence. The search covered a wide area of bushland and farmland in NSW’s Central West, with officers working through heat, rough terrain and repeated leads.

National Parks and Wildlife Service staff found the ute while carrying out feral animal eradication work. Police said it was not yet clear whether the area had been searched before. The location, hidden in a remote reserve, has intensified scrutiny of how the fugitive managed to remain out of sight for so long.

For Lake Cargelligo, the discovery brought the grim prospect of an end to one of the state’s most closely watched manhunts. Families who had been waiting for news of Ingram and the three victims now face the final step of formal identification, after months in which the town lived under the weight of the killings and the search that followed.