April 21, 2017
A crime scene has been established following the discovery of human remains inside a submerged vehicle at Borumba Dam, east of Jimna.
The body is believed to belong to Stuart Raymond Gatehouse who went missing on April 1, 2004, when he was aged 45.
Mr Gatehouse was last seen at Kenilworth and had planned to travel to Gympie in his red 1986 Holden Commodore.
Police were contacted recently after a member of the public detected a large object near the boat ramp while using a depth sounder at Borumba Dam.
The Police Dive Squad attended on Thursday and located a submerged vehicle, which was identified as Mr Gatehouse’s car,
When the vehicle was removed from the water, police found skeletal remains inside, but no formal identification can be made until forensic examinations take place.
The State Homicide Squad is assisting Sunshine Coast CIB detectives with the investigation.
Anyone with information which they believe could be relevant to the investigation has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800-333-000.
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UPDATE April 24, 2017: The car which contained what is believed to be Mr Gatehouse’s remains was discovered by well-known Wondai fisherman Terry Allwood.
Mr Allwood was competing in the Basstasstic fishing tournament at the dam on March 25 when he made the find.
Heading out for an afternoon session of competition, Mr Allwood was a short distance from shore when he noticed the outline of the car in his fish finder.
He immediately marked the position on his GPS and his wife reported the find to police that evening.
A police officer met the couple at the dam next day.
The car was approximately 30m from shore, about 10m below the surface.
Mr Allwood said at first he thought the car had simply been dumped, and wasn’t concerned until he got a call from police Thursday afternoon saying the car was linked to a missing person case.
Police divers and Clayton’s Towing later retrieved the red VL Holden Commodore.
