Police at the scene where two bodies were found in a unit at Robina
Another Tragic end to a manhunt, this one ending in 4 deaths, the youngest victim the most innocent, taken away to die by what appears to be a jealous father unable to accept the mother had moved on.
The bodies of a 5 year old girl and her father were last night found in a car near the town of Casino.
UPDATE 10.30am: POLICE have defended the length of time they took to put out a child abduction alert for Gold Coast girl Kayla Rogers, saying they believe she was killed soon after she was abducted by her father.
The bodies of Kayla, who celebrated her fifth birthday on Sunday, and her father Paul, 40, were found in a car in northern NSW after a double murder at Robina on the Gold Coast on Sunday night.
Tragically little Kayla Rogers was found dead beside her father, who gassed them both to death in his car
Mr Rogers and Kayla are believed to have been gassed to death in the vehicle.
A police statement last night said: “With great sadness we advise that the New South Wales Police Force have located a vehicle with the deceased bodies of a five-year-old girl and a man in a car just outside of Casino.”
Kayla’s mother Tania Simpson, 31, and a 33-year-old man described by police as a family friend, were found stabbed to death in Ms Simpson’s Robina apartment on Monday morning.
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Their bodies were discovered by Kayla’s maternal grandfather, who had arrived to take her to school.
Crime scene: Police speak
Acting regional crime co-ordinator Inspector Tim Trezise said police were ‘gutted’ at her death.
“It’s just a waste, all these people dying, but particularly an innocent child like this one,” he told a media conference at Gold Coast police headquarters today.
The child abduction alert for Kayla was not issued until about 3.15pm Monday but Insp Trezise said he did not believe it could have been issued any earlier.
He said police could not issue the alert until they had firm information and were also using mobile phone tracking to try to locate Mr Rogers and Kayla alive.
However, he said it was ‘completely possible’ they were dead before the bodies were found at Robina yesterday morning.
Insp Trezise said evidence found at the unit indicated Kayla may have slept through the double murder.
He revealed Ms Simpson and Mr Rogers had been planning to marry but broke up after an eight-year relationship.
Ms Simpson moved to the Gold Coast recently to start a new life.
It was not known whether she was in a relationship with the man who was found dead.
Police are preparing a report for the coroner.
The Queensland Police Service said it would provide all possible support to the family.
Kayla’s 20-month-old brother, now an orphan, was saved because he spent Sunday night with his grandparents.
Ms Simpson and the other man were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack sometime on Sunday night at a Robina unit.
Neighbours in Robina said they heard screaming coming from the Arbour Ave apartment during the night but the bodies of the couple were not discovered until about 8am yesterday.
Tania’s father was worried when he could not raise his daughter and went to the unit to investigate.
Inside he found the body of a man and called police, who found his daughter’s body.
Police said there were clear signs of a struggle and there appeared to be a blood trail leading from the apartment, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.
The unit block was put in lockdown, with residents confined to their homes and the shopping precinct was shut down and declared a crime scene.
Police began searching for Ms Simpson’s estranged husband Paul Anthony Rogers after a tip-off that he was heading across the border with Kayla.
Around 3.15pm, Queensland police sent out a picture of a little girl with deep brown eyes, her hair in a ponytail.
The alert was withdrawn late Monday night when police discovered the car under the Piora Bridge, west of Casino, with the bodies of Mr Rogers and little Kayla inside.
