Source : the age
Homicide squad detectives have extradited a man from Poland and charged him with murder over the death of a man whose body was discovered inside a metal cabinet floating in a creek on the NSW Mid-North Coast in 2023.
Two men have previously been sentenced over the death of Darcy Schafer-Turner, who was 22 when he disappeared following a drug-related dispute.
Zachary Richard Fraser was sentenced to six and half years in prison in 2025 after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Schafer-Turner, who was his close school friend, at a unit in Peakhurst.
The court heard Fraser taped his mouth shut while another man held Schafer-Turner in a chokehold. Schafer-Turner, 22, lost consciousness and suffocated.
Fraser believed Schafer-Turner owed the other man $50,000. One of the men attempted to resuscitate Schafer-Turner, but neither of his attackers called emergency services for help, Nine reported.
Queensland father Charles Dennis Turnbull was paid $20,000 to clean up the scene and dispose of the body.
CCTV footage from Bunnings showed Turnbull buying cable ties and a large metal cabinet. He travelled to Port Macquarie and bought a boat to dump Schafer-Turner’s body in Warrell Creek in Macksville.
Detectives discovered the body inside the cabinet weeks later, after investigating the alleged supply of drugs in the Caringbah area and the 22-year-old’s disappearance.
The third man allegedly involved in the attack fled overseas.
After an ongoing investigation, detectives flew to Poland on September 18 to arrest a 26-year-old man.
He arrived in Sydney about 6pm on Friday and was charged with murder. He will face court on Saturday.
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Angus Dalton is the science reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
