Police continue search for Dulcie Birt in the "Murder without a Body" case at Ipswich

Dennis Birt of Goodna with his 10-month-old
daughter Savanah one year after his twin sister
Dulcie Birt went missing.

A YEAR on from the suspected murder of Ipswich woman Dulcie Birt, police say they have not given up hope of finding her body.

Dulcie Birt – also known as Darcy – went missing from her Riverview home on October 21, 2009, triggering a massive search of bushland adjacent to her home and a subsequent murder investigation.

Ipswich district Detective Inspector Mick Niland said the search for Dulcie's body was still focussed on an abandoned mine filled with water, not more than a few kilometres south of her home.

Police searched the lake – known as Green Lakes – extensively from the time of her disappearance right up until March this year, utilising Navy diving experts and state-of-the-art sonar equipment without success.

"We remain in consultation with the owners of that property at Green Lakes – we still want to drain that lake," Inspector Niland said.

Police remained tight-lipped on the reasons behind the delay in draining the large water storage.

Inspector Niland was unable to comment further on the investigation due to the fact that the matter is before the courts.

Dulcie's twin brother Dennis Birt said he still held hope that his sister was alive, and would continue to do so despite the fact that a man had been charged with her murder.

"I won't believe she's dead until they find a body – and the police still haven't told me anything," he said.

Police charged Bundamba man Alwyn John Gwilliams, 41, with murder in February this year.

Full story: QT.com.au

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COMMENT: An alleged murder, no body, a defendant languishing in jail for 8 months, police still negotiating with a landowner to search a lake for a missing body.  This is fast becoming one of Queensland's most-infamous crimes which Agatha Christie would have revelled in.