Queensland Police arrested a 48-year-old man, identified as Dharminder Singh, early Sunday morning and charged him with one count of murder in connection with the death of his former partner, Jana Armstrong. Singh, who shared a child with Armstrong, is accused of a domestic violence offense.
Bodycam footage captured the tense arrest at 4 a.m. in Singh's sparsely furnished bedroom. Officers scaled stairs to the second floor and found Singh lying on a bed before handcuffing him. He is scheduled to appear at Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday.
Armstrong, 30, was last seen at a unit in Newtown, Toowoomba, south-east Queensland, on Tuesday. Her white Hyundai Kona was discovered the following morning. Human remains, believed to be Armstrong's, were found in bushland off Esk Hampton Road at Redbank Creek on Saturday night by a group hunting wild pigs. The cause of death is not yet known.
Darling Downs acting detective inspector Brian Collins stated that there were no prior domestic violence orders in place and indicated that police could not have prevented the incident. He noted that Singh had initially been questioned as a witness and released without charge. "Investigations are still underway, and there'll be a holistic examination which will examine all the interactions with police," Collins said.
Armstrong's family expressed their grief, with cousins Lara and Hannah Sweedman visiting the site where her body was found. "We are shattered, we are heartbroken, but we are really grateful we get to bring our beautiful cousin Jana home so we can lay her to rest in the way she deserves," Lara Sweedman said.
Armstrong's younger sister, Faith Isaacs, shared her devastation on social media, thanking emergency services and the community for their support. "My beautiful Jana deserved so much more. She was so deeply loved and will be missed beyond words," Isaacs wrote, vowing to keep her sister's memory alive for her infant son.
Friends reported that Armstrong had shared brunch with her sister on Tuesday morning, hours before she was last seen. Police have released CCTV footage of Armstrong arriving at the cafe. Specialist police units, including the Homicide Investigation Unit, assisted in the search for Armstrong along with SES crews.