Queensland police charge ex-partner with murder after body believed to be missing woman found

Queensland police have charged a former partner of a missing woman with murder, after a body believed to be hers was discovered in bushland by a group of hunters.

As of Sunday, the remains were yet to be formally identified but Queensland police investigators said they believed they were those of Jana Armstrong, who was reported missing in Toowoomba on Tuesday.

Hours after the grim discovery, police arrested her 48-year-old former partner and he was later charged with domestic violence murder.

“This is a horrific crime,” Det Acting Insp Brian Collins told reporters on Sunday.

“People in the community would be horrified that a young lady, a 30-year-old with a four-month-old child, has had her life taken.”

Armstrong was reported missing from a suburb in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after she was last seen on Tuesday. Officers released footage of her wearing a green-and-white striped Country Road shirt, jeans and thongs.

After police found Armstrong’s dumped white Hyundai on Wednesday morning, Collins said her former partner was found in her home with the baby.

Collins, of the Darling Downs district, said police had been alerted to possible human remains on Esk-Hampton Road at Redbank Creek about 10.40pm on Saturday.

The remains were discovered in steep terrain by members of the public who were out hunting pigs. Police attended late on Saturday night and a crime scene was declared. Collins said the area had not been previously searched by police.

“We believe that that person is, in fact, Jana, the missing person in this matter, and she was deceased,” Collins told a media conference on Sunday.

He said police had later executed a search warrant at a home on West Street in the Toowoomba suburb of Harristown. A 48-year-old man was arrested and charged with one count of domestic violence murder.

The man was due to appear at Toowoomba magistrates court on Monday.

Collins said police were calling for anyone who was in the area between Toowoomba and Esk – specifically on the New England Highway and Esk-Hampton Road – between 10.30pm on 7 July and 1.30am on 8 July to provide any dashcam footage or CCTV footage from homes with cameras that capture the roadway.

He said a postmortem examination would determine how Armstrong died.

“Our deepest sympathies to the family of Jana … as they’re victims of this horrific and horrifying crime,” Collins said.

Collins said no relevant domestic violence protection order was in place in the relationship, but that all interactions with police before the death would be examined.

“I don’t think there’s anything police could have done to prevent this at all,” Collins said.

Armstrong’s baby was now in her sister’s care, police said.

“I plan to just look after her son, love him as much as she loved him,” Faith Isaacs told the ABC on Sunday.

“She was so loved. She was just the most caring, calm and loving person. She just put everyone first.”

“Losing my beautiful sister in this way is something I will never be able to understand or put into words,” Isaacs had posted on social media on Sunday morning.

“I promise you, Jana, your beautiful baby boy will always know exactly who his mummy was.”