Second body found near where woman was discovered dead last week

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Police in Sydney have launched a double murder investigation following the discovery of a second body at Botany near where a woman's remains were discovered last week.

Transcript

00:00Hi Jo, well look this is very much an unfolding situation.

00:05Police have told us that they found this second body around 2pm this afternoon in very dense

00:11bushland in Botany and they do believe that it's connected to the suspected murder of

00:16Sally Lee.

00:17Now I'm going to bring you up to details on the case here Jo because it is quite a complex

00:21case.

00:22Sally Lee, she's a 33 year old woman from Greenacre, her body was found in this same

00:27bushland last Monday.

00:29She was formally identified on Sunday.

00:33Police say that she hadn't been seen or heard of since November and they said that they

00:37held grave concerns for her husband Rex Chang, also 33, also from Greenacre, who also hadn't

00:43been seen or heard of since November.

00:45Now this second body is yet to be formally identified but police suspect that it may

00:50be Rex Chang.

00:52They say that the body was found in the same location as Sally Lee's but it was concealed

00:58by dense bushland and water.

01:01They believe that it was also dumped around the same time as Sally Lee's.

01:05Now police say that they're treating this as a suspected double murder and they've also

01:10floated the theory that there may be a third party involved.

01:15Now I just want to let you know, for police to come out this early in a case like this,

01:19having only found this body at 2pm this afternoon is highly unusual but it is very much an evolving

01:25case.

01:26Here's what police had to say earlier today.

01:29We thought there was a third party involved, a very strong investigative theory.

01:33That has now been confirmed that it's more than one person targeted both Sally and more

01:43likely Rex and have murdered them, dumped their body off a foreshore drive at Botany.

01:52And Victoria, do police have any theories?

01:56Well it's still very early stages in the investigation, Joe, but police have floated one theory.

02:02They do believe that there was a third party, all third parties involved.

02:07They do also believe that Rex's phone was used after his death.

02:11They suspect that he was possibly murdered around the same time as Sally Lee but they

02:17still haven't got a time of death yet.

02:20They did find her body in a state of decomposition and they suspect that she may have been dead

02:25for some time.

02:27They've also floated the idea that this may have been linked to financial issues, possibly

02:32related to drug money.

02:34They've actually retrieved Rex's phone up in Queensland and police say that they were

02:40tracking two individuals who they believe were using Rex's phone.

02:44They have been working with Queensland authorities.

02:47They're also now working with authorities in Thailand and China, which is where Rex

02:52and Sally are originally from, and they say that they believe two people involved in this

02:59double murder may have either fled to China or Taiwan.

03:03But look, it is still really early stages in this investigation.

03:06Joe, I do want to give you a sense of what it's actually like here in Botany today.

03:10It's a really, really hot day, over 30 degrees, it's really humid.

03:15And this park where the bodies were found is right next to a busy road near Sydney Airport.

03:20There's lots of traffic passing by and also lots of walkers and runners going along this

03:25track.

03:26So it's hard to believe that these bodies could be found here in such a public location.

03:31But look, police are working very hard behind the scene to try and track down these possible

03:35two individuals who may be involved, but it is still very much an evolving case.

03:39Joe?

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