Police have released a major update on the investigation into the death of a pupil who was found dead on the side of the road after a night out 14 years ago.
On the fourth day of an inquest into the death of Josh Warneke, it emerged that there are 15 people who cannot be ruled out as suspects in the 21-year-old’s case.
Mr Warneke’s body was found on Old Broome Road, in Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, on February 26, 2010, shortly after he left a nightclub in the popular seaside resort.
A $1 million reward has been offered for information helping catch his killer.
On Thursday, the investigation, which has now moved from Broome to Perth, found that there were still “three groups of suspects” who could not be ruled out as being involved.
The craftsman was last seen walking near Old Broome and Bagot Road at around 2.45am, when a taxi driver found him with a serious head injury shortly afterwards. Western Australian reported.
Detective Constable David Palmer, who led a team that conducted a cold case investigation into Mr Warneke’s death in 2017-18, told the court they had concluded the man died after being struck by a vehicle, attacked with a weapon, or both.
During the police investigation into the death of Mr Warneke, approximately 850 witnesses were interviewed or identified, the judicial investigation revealed.
On the fourth day of an inquest into the death of Josh Warneke (pictured), it emerged that there are 15 people who cannot be ruled out as suspects in the 21-year-old’s case
The names of several suspects were mentioned in court on Thursday, but they cannot be named publicly due to a confidentiality order.
One of the suspects told a woman that he had struck Mr. Warneke with a tomahawk and that he could point out where the weapon was.
But police later ruled that the man was known for his “nonsense”, the court heard.
Sergeant David Magorian, one of the state’s most experienced accident investigators, said he did not believe Mr. Warneke was struck by a vehicle on the night he died.
He said the lack of tire marks at the scene of the accident, Mr Warneke’s injuries and the fact that his slippers were found close to his body led him and his emergency room colleagues to conclude that no vehicle was involved.
“I don’t think I can imagine a scenario where he would have been struck by a vehicle and he would have been left in that position,” Sergeant Magorian said.
“I can’t think of a scenario where there was contact with a vehicle. He looked too clean. It’s inconsistent with what we would normally find.”
A crash report into Mr Warneke’s death also revealed that he was not struck by a vehicle or anything protruding from a vehicle.
Sgt Magorian said he agreed with these conclusions.
Earlier this week, taxi driver Philip Nordfelt denied hitting the cabbie with his car in a McDonald’s parking lot 30 minutes before Mr Warneke was found dead less than a kilometre away.
He also said he could not remember a passenger in his taxi ever saying, “Please don’t hit him.”
“I know for sure that I did not do that,” Mr Nordfelt told reporters outside the court after his testimony, the ABC reported.
The young craftsman was captured on CCTV footage in a McDonald’s parking lot 30 minutes before he was found dead
A taxi driver denied hitting the merchant with his car in a McDonald’s parking lot (photo) 30 minutes before Mr Warneke was found dead
On Monday, the investigation determined that a man who had been charged and later acquitted of the manslaughter of Mr Warneke would not testify.
Indigenous man Gene Gibson was charged with the murder of Mr Warneke in 2012, but eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
He had been in prison for more than seven years and had served almost five when the WA Supreme Court ruled that the “integrity of the plea was in doubt” and his conviction should be quashed. He is not one of the 15 suspects identified by police.
The investigation is still ongoing.
