Still no sign of Dulcie's body

Members of the royal Australian Navy with equipment used to search Green Lake for Dulcie Birt’s body.

Rob Williams

POLICE have come up empty handed following an exhaustive search for the body of Dulcie Birt.

Dulcie was 31 when she went missing from her Riverview home on the evening of October 21, 2009.

Police launched a homicide investigation in November and last month charged 40-year-old Alwyn John Gwilliams with Dulcie Birt’s murder.

Green Lakes, about a kilometre south of Dulcie’s home, has been the focus of police searches for the past four-and-a-half months.

Police divers first entered the water on October 29 but were unable to descend far enough down into the lake, which was estimated to be more than 40 metres deep at the time.

In December police began an operation to drain the lake to about half its depth, allowing better access to its divers.

But investigations were still hampered by poor visibility and submerged hazards.

On Tuesday, members of the Royal Australian Navy’s Mine Warfare Geospatial Deployable Systems Team set up a sonar device which retrieved images from the bottom of the lake for a day and a half.

The device failed to find what the police were looking for and was moved across to nearby Aqua Lake on Wednesday.

The search of Aqua Lake also came up with a blank, and it is now likely that a murder case will proceed without Dulcie’s body.

Police have seized two vehicles – a Mitsubishi Triton ute and a Holden Commodore sedan – as part of their investigation.

Both cars have been forensically examined.

Police have also carried out scientific tests on an object found in bushland near Green Lakes in December.

Police have refused to say what the object is.

Gwilliams was remanded in custody after appearing before Ipswich Magistrates Court on February 17.

The case was adjourned until March 24.