Updated ,first published
Warning: This story contains the names and images of Indigenous people who have died.
Police are offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of accused triple murderer Julian Ingram, who authorities believe is being helped to evade capture.
Ingram has been on the run since January 22, when he allegedly shot dead his heavily pregnant former partner Sophie Quinn, 25, her friend John Harris, 32, and her aunt Nerida Quinn, 50, in the NSW Central West town of Lake Cargelligo. Ingram is also alleged to have shot and seriously injured 20-year-old Kaleb Macqueen, who was 19 at the time of the attack.
Large-scale searching of Lake Cargelligo and surrounds has failed to locate Ingram, also known as Julian Pierpoint, who was last seen leaving town shortly after the shootings. He was seen heading north towards Euabalong, a nearby town of about 80 people where he was raised and had lived until about a decade ago, according to locals. Police have not ruled out the possibility that Ingram may be dead.
“We do believe that there is a person or persons out there that do have information that could assist us and identify where Julian Ingram is,” NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Pisanos said on Tuesday.
“We’re after an arrest, and we want to bring some justice to these families.”
Several sightings of Ingram were reported in the days after the shootings, including at Mount Hope, an isolated township about an hour from Lake Cargelligo. Current search efforts remain focused on Lake Cargelligo and its surrounding areas.
Police have received hundreds of individual pieces of information and searched tens of thousands of hectares of bush and farmland around Lake Cargelligo.
“There is still belief that he’s being supported by someone in the community,” Assistant Commissioner Andy Holland said.
“Seven weeks in the arid country … he would have to have support.”
Holland said a large police presence, including heavily armed officers from several units, would attend Sophie and Nerida Quinn’s funerals in Lake Cargelligo on Thursday, with locals fearing Ingram may return to the town. No information has been received to suggest Ingram has left the area, nor any indicating that he remains nearby, Holland said.
Police granted Ingram bail on domestic violence charges last November after he allegedly assaulted Quinn around the time the pair had separated. Ingram was charged with stalking or intimidating, intending to cause fear or physical harm, and common assault.
Ingram had pleaded not guilty to the charges. He had not breached the apprehended domestic violence order in place to protect Sophie Quinn before the shootings, police said, and was granted bail in November after not having committed a violent crime for several years.
Sophie Quinn was due to give birth to a son in March. The child was to be named after her father Troy, who died when she was two years old, her family said.
Interactions between local police and Ingram in the months before the shooting are the subject of an ongoing critical incident investigation being overseen by the state’s policing watchdog. The investigation is examining Ingram and Sophie Quinn’s ongoing relationship in the lead-up to the shooting, Ingram’s access to firearms, and how the 37-year-old, who has never held a gun licence in NSW, accessed the weapon believed to have been used in the shooting.
Ingram is regarded as an expert bushman capable of surviving in isolated scrub with limited resources, having spent several years working as a brush cutter in the Central West. He has not used his phone or accessed his bank accounts since the shootings.
There have been no confirmed sightings of Ingram since January 22. He was reportedly seen on January 25 near Mount Hope, where police searched for several days. Several unconfirmed sightings have been reported to police.
