December 5, 2022By Peter HolmesThe man who was with Esther Wallace around Federal Falls before she vanished has “been very helpful with the enquiries”, according to acting superintendent Gerard Lawson, relieving commander at Central West Police District. “[He has] provided a lot of information...
www.orangenewsexaminer.com.au
December 5, 2022
The man who was with Esther Wallace around Federal Falls before she vanished has “been very helpful with the enquiries”, according to acting superintendent Gerard Lawson, relieving commander at Central West Police District.
“[He has] provided a lot of information that's been able to help us focus where the search should be,” Lawson said on Tuesday.
Police have given little away during the search, which is now in its seventh day.
They have held no press conferences and kept details supplied to enquiring media to a minimum, only releasing the agencies involved in each day's search, and information about the times of day the search was conducted. Other questions relating to the search have been left unanswered in email responses.
Asked by
The Orange News Examiner if there was a reason for this low-key approach, Lawson said: “No, there's no reason for that. It's just us getting on with business.
“We've been focused on the search for this woman, trying to find her because as you can appreciate, the longer she's missing the less chance of finding her well. [It] evaporates.”
He confirmed the search was continuing throughout Tuesday, describing it as “rugged and quite difficult”.
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A source told
The Orange News Examiner that exhaustion was setting in among those who were scouring the challenging terrain.
Asked if he was confident Esther Wallace was somewhere around Federal Falls, Lawson said: “There's always that possibility that she's been able to find her way off the mountain and is elsewhere, and if that's the case and people know where she is, please come forward and tell us. There's a reason why we're concentrating our search here.”
As hopes fade that Wallace could survive this long in the bush, cadaver dogs trained to track the scent of human remains are on standby.
The multi-agency search for Wallace was extended following the discovery of two items around Federal Falls on Sunday.
The Orange News Examiner revealed that a hi-vis jacket believed to belong to Wallace was found at the base of a wall of blackberry during the search on Sunday. A source would not comment on the second item.
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