 That way you can add what they set up. And Detective Senior Sergeant Todd Reed, TOD, R-E-I-D. TOD. TOD. R-E-I-D. Just the one D? Yes, yep. R-E-I-D, yes. And Detective Superintendent Mark Hainesworth. A-I-N-S-W-R-T-O-T-G. Detective Superintendent and Detective Senior Sergeant. That's right, yeah. Thanks for listening. Thank you. Here you go. Thank you very much. The train was bad enough. Then we don't have a high-five truck. What is it? We could have called the train. He's too old. We've both been talking. Yeah. Just to get a hold of. Can you just look at that? Can you just look at that? Can you just look at that? Can you just look at that? Can you just look at that? Good morning, thank you. Detectives from the North Brisbane District Child Protection and Investigation Unit are investigating the death of a newborn infant female child at Bald Hills on Australia Day this year. On the 26th of January this year police were called to an address at Bald Hills after they received certain information and as a result of their attendance they searched a premises and found a newborn infant female child deceased in a domestic washing machine. Since that time we established a major incident room at the Burndale Police Station and have been treating that matter as suspicious since the first day and diligently investigating that crime. We've recently received the results of forensic testing which have confirmed that the matter is suspicious and we're now appealing for any information from the public, people that might know the family involved and no matter how insignificant the information might be or they might think it to be but to come forward and contact crime stoppers on 1800 triple three triple zero. Thank you. Who called police? Who called police? The ambulance service. What was the official cause of death? We haven't received that as yet. Who called the ambulance? The public? Was it a tip-off? The ambulance was notified by a member of the family. Have you been able to identify the baby's mother? Yes. Any other children? Yes. Are you prepared to say how many? No I can't. What is the status of the family? Are they cooperating with police or are they basically shut down? Now at this stage in the investigation the family are cooperating. As Todd has just explained the investigation has been ongoing for some period of time which has necessitated a lot of conversations with the family and other people so at this stage there is a level of cooperation. Obviously legally it's a very tough one to negotiate. What in particular would you like the public to come forward with information seeing the family at the bout, seeing the mother, the movements, things like that? Particularly what we're interested in is any person or any other family member of this particular family, work colleagues, friends, neighbours or anyone, local shops that have seen this particular woman or a husband in the area prior to the 26th of January or anyone that knows anything about the actual family, the family situation is what we're pretty interested in talking to at this point in time in the investigation. Newborn here would have narrowed it down at all? Newborn as in only minutes, probably minutes old. Is it still alive in the ambulance alive? No. Just getting back to your question there, when we say newborn it appeared to be a full-term baby, born at the residence and then obviously certain things that happened after that birth. Can you say that the baby had died before it was put in the washing machine or without having the washing machine? Well the investigation is still continuing along that along that lines and that is a quite important fact that we're trying to establish at this stage with the assistance of toxicology and other scientific testing. Was the washing machine being used without being too graphic or was it a conterous cycle without being? It was a normal washing machine you'd expect to find in any family house, a top-end loader, not the front-end loader, a top-end loader and there was other items of clothing and what have you in that particular machine. Is it in water or? No, the baby was located in the machine wrapped in an item. Do you believe that the rest of the family knew the woman was pregnant or is this? Again, look I apologise, we really can't comment too much on that and that is forming a substantial part of the investigation currently. Do you believe that were residing in the home and if so were there any other people other than perhaps the women and the husband that were living there at the time? Yes, there was a family, a whole family living in the residence at the time. Are there people who are helping you with your investigation at this stage? Amongst other people, that's correct. When you say a whole family, was that a woman, a couple and their children or was there other extended family members? No, that's just a family, a couple and their children. Are the children still with the mother and father? Sorry, we can't tell you that one. You say that you're asking the public or people have seen this woman come forward. What areas, obviously not at home, but what areas would people have seen or possibly seen this woman? Local shops and what are those shops? Local shops in the Bald Hills area, schools in that particular area. There's members of the family and associates of the family who have already provided us with statements that we would appeal that even if they may have had further information, as a result of our recent testing, we'd appreciate them to come forward again and revisit that with us, no matter how insignificant it might be. Are you going to be releasing a photo that wasn't to help people, the shops, those sort of things we know who we're even talking about? Look, in due course that may occur, but currently there's no photographs will be released at all because of obvious reasons. Hopefully in due course something may occur along those lines. Is there a question of the person? Well, again, it's very, very difficult. We probably can't provide too much along those lines at this time. The woman and I guess her husband are they? Permanent residents, recent immigrants, are there any cultural issues at play here? Permanent residents in Australia, we can have been for some time. Do you have a reason to think that as you appeal to these people in the local area, do you have a reason to think that they're going to understand they're going to tell you who this is? We're hoping so. We're hoping so that the extended family, the extended family may have friends, colleagues, work colleagues of the people involved. So we're hoping that will lead to something coming forward. And it is very difficult. I can understand the position that these people are in, but it is very difficult than what we can say at this time. But our appeal really is, is for anyone that I know of this family, know of the extended family, have been conversing with the extended family or work colleagues of these people that may have some information we're particularly interested if they could come forward and contact other crime stoppers. We'll burn down CPLU. Can I just get you to sort of explain again what you're hoping to achieve with seeing them, what kind of info you're hoping to achieve? What we're hoping to achieve is any information that can progress through the investigation along, whether or not they knew of any difficulties with the family, any difficulties with the woman with the pregnancy stages of the woman, any history of the family along those lines, whether or not this particular woman had confided in any friends or work colleagues or that in relation to a pregnancy or in relation to any issues at home. That's basically what we're appealing for at this time. Is the woman herself cooperating with the police? At present, we have spoken with her and she is cooperating to a certain extent, yes. Is she still residing in the house? I can't say that at the moment. Suspicious, any, what are you waiting for to determine whether this, I guess, is a murder investigation whether these people become suspects? Well, it is going in that line at the present time of a suspicious death and as we said, as a result of the toxicology and scientific testing, we believe that it does remain a suspicious death and we're treating along that line. The major incident room is still in operation and a number of investigations are still continuing at the present time. So it is being treated as a suspicious death. So it's still but this being all done? That's correct. Is there delay in going public with this? There's been no real delay in going public. I understand that some people may think there is but as part of the investigation, we have to be pretty certain that there is anything suspicious involved. I think we've, in the stage of the investigation, we've probably reached that suspicion and hence the need to come forward at this particular time. As you can understand, the scientific testing and toxicology, the turnaround time for that isn't like what we see on CSI or on TV. There is some time involved in that and that has recently come back which has resulted in the our suspicions being increased and being treated as a suspicious death in this time. What are these tests showing exactly that's then changed? The situation hasn't shown that, in fact, the baby was born alive and well and has then passed away. Is that what you're relying on? That's what we're relying on, all those lines and time frames. Can you elaborate at all on the sorts of scientific tests that were done? Well, I can't go into too much, apart to say, from toxicology tests and examinations which are done by the John Tong Centre and of those examinations, their standards would have tests done in any suspicious death of deceased events. Sir, what do you mean it's put for a washing cycle or not? You said it's found in the washing machine inside clothes. What was actually put for a cycle? We don't believe so. What was the baby reacting? Can you tell us? The baby was wrapped in an item of clothing from the residents. What did the boy look like? It's a girl. You have been able to establish a cause of death or that's still yet to come. It's still yet to come. Can you give us an approximate age of the mother? She's in her mid-thirties. You said that the work... people in her work to come forward imagine would have gone to work and visited their work friends. Has that not been quite right? No, we have taken a number of statements from people now into the family and part of the appeal today would be to make sure that if there's something that they felt they weren't completely... telling us the complete story when we spoke with them just to stress the importance but we'd like them to come forward again if possible. Have it probably told people that they were pregnant? Well, that's part of the inquiry is that the mother has denied that she was pregnant. So part of that would be if she has revealed that information to a colleague or friend and confided in them we'd be asking those people to come forward and share that with us. Can you tell us what industry the mother worked in? Not where she worked but just the type of industry? No, I'm sorry. That she denied to you? So that she denied to you she was pregnant? So far, yes. See if she was. That's been done. So was she claiming not to be the mother? At the moment she's saying that she didn't know that she was pregnant. I didn't know. Correct. The test proof she was pregnant. That's been done. And that's proven that she was. We don't have the results yet. How far away are those results? I can't say. It's fair to say you're not looking for anyone else in relation to this baby's death. You're focused on this particular mother and perhaps another husband. At this period of time it's been treated as a suspicious death. A number of avenues of inquiry are continuing and are taking place. So we're not focusing on any particular individual at this time. It is an open investigation and all avenues of the investigation are being conducted to ensure that... If you don't deal with this sort of baby to determine this... We probably can't talk too much further about it. That's the crux to what we've got at this time. And look, I apologize. It does sound reasonably vague, but the main thing today is just the appeal for any assistance to come forward. Obviously, in due course as the investigation progresses there will be further media releases and further updates. So unfortunately that's about all we can say at the present time. So are other children... Are you able just to narrow down how old... Like are they all up to 10? Or are they 25? Just to paint a picture of how many kids it might help keep them in the shops. Yeah, look, it probably could. But unfortunately, we're just in a position where we can't devolve that information currently. Again, we can't devolve it, I'm sorry. It must be a very broad investigation, please. The thing with these sort of jobs... Emergency services personnel attend these jobs. You've got people at hospitals that have become involved in this matter and the family alone and relatives and friends and neighbours. It's a particularly stressful time for a lot of people as you well and truly understand. So we've just been continuing investigation in professional manner and going from there. And how do you do some police working on the case? Just promise. That's probably about all we can say at the present time. OK. Do you mind if I... I'm not sure if it is the mother and baby argument or if we have to be officially... It is her baby. We refer to her as mother and they don't see for any proper station. But has she denied the results? Excuse me. She's denied. We probably can't answer, I'm sorry. Any motives? Can't answer that, I'm sorry, at this stage. Investigation's ongoing. You might be going into it too, but... He said she's the baby's only... things like that with things like that being still attached. I can't comment on that at this stage. Do you want to give your names and names currently? Yes. Detective Senior Sergeant Todd Reid, TOD, REID from North Brisbane, CPIU. Detective Superintendent Mark Ainsworth, Regional Crime Coordinator Metro North Region.