BODY ‘WAS NOT INTACT’
DISCOVERED: TORSO BELIEVED TO BE MISSING MAN
POLICE have launched a murder investigation after finding the torso of missing man Jake Daniel Anderson-Brettner.
“The body is not intact,” said commander Brett Smith.
Police have since searched multiple sites, including the Launceston tip, for evidence related to the 24-year-old’s death.
A man and a woman have been in custody since Saturday but no charges have been laid.
POLICE are searching a rubbish tip after finding some of the remains of Launceston man Jake Daniel Anderson-Brettner.
A torso police believe is Mr Anderson-Brettner, 24, was found yesterday near Myrtle Park, about half an hour’s drive northeast of Launceston.
A 25-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman from Riverside, who were not previously known to police, have been in custody since Saturday but no charges have been laid.
Mr Anderson-Brettner was last seen in his utility on Wednesday about 6.30pm.
The vehicle was found in Balmoral Ave in Riverside on Thursday at 4.30pm.
Detective Acting Inspector Craig Fox said police believed that Mr Anderson-Brettner was likely to have been murdered between 6pm and 9pm on Wednesday.
Commander Brett Smith would not comment on the motive and declined to say whether the case was drugrelated.
The cause of the death is part of the ongoing investigation. Searches are continuing in and around Launceston, including the Mowbray tip and the West Tamar Highway.
“This is quite a dynamic and evolving incident, which is moving very, very quickly,” Commander Smith said.
“We have two people in custody and we believe there are other people that may know more information and we ask them to come forward.”
A 6km section of the Tasman Highway has been closed while an extensive search is conducted and forensic evidence collected.
Commander Smith said the two people in custody were assisting police with their inquiries.
Police were unwilling to comment on the events leading up to the media release on a missing person being issued on Thursday.
“We were onto this very quickly, when Jake was reported missing we had a fairly small time frame which has really assisted us and we had some significant infor- mation of his movements,” movements” Commander Smith said.
“Because we got that information really quickly and the scene quite quickly and some public information [was] out there, we managed to put a good timeline of what we think happened and we just need those gaps filled in now.”
Detective Acting Inspector Fox said police wanted to know how certain vehicles came to be in certain locations and who parked them.
“There was no pursuit or car chase and so there is no information to suggest this was an ongoing rolling incident on our roads.”
Commander Smith said he was not aware any members of outlaw motorcycle gangs were involved.
‘”It would be unfair to provide any other details, there will be a Part B to this,” he said.
In the past four days police have sought information on three black vehi--
cles: a Range Rover, a Jeep and Mr Anderson-Brettner’s Nissan Navara utility, as well as a white Mazda 6 wagon.
The victim’s ute was found abandoned in Riverside on Thursday.
The Mazda station wagon has not been located but police were keen to either include or exclude it from the investigation.
Detective Acting Inspector Fox said there was a reason police had not released the numberplates of the vehicles.
“They are quite identifiable cars anyway, and we will not be releasing the numberplates,” he said.
He said they were Tasmanian vehicles.
Commander Smith said the murder was not reflective of what normally happens in Tasmanian life.
“Our thoughts are with Mr Anderson-Brettner’s family and loved ones at this difficult time.”