Police divers are searching for a set of keys beneath Sydney’s Gladesville Bridge in the hope of unearthing a crucial piece of evidence in Cecilia Haddad’s murder.
The dive squads returned to the Parramatta river on Friday, some five days after the popular 38-year-old Brazilian businesswoman’s fully-clothed body was found in the water near Woolwich on Sunday morning.
The Guardian Australia understands police are searching for a set of keys which detectives believe may be important evidence in the case. NSW police haven’t revealed who the keys belong to or what they may unlock.
Haddad’s body was found in the Lane Cover river, which is on the opposite side of the Woolwich peninsula to the Gladesville Bridge where police are searching.
Police are understood to be acting on information from the public and are trying to determine whether the area is of interest to the investigation.
Investigators are still working to track down Haddad’s former lover who flew home to Rio De Janeiro over the weekend. Police say Mario Marcelo Santoro is a “person of interest” and Brazilian authorities have been engaged to help locate him.
Santoro and Haddad had previously lived together, but Haddad had asked him to leave her home in Ryde in the weeks leading up to her death.
Haddad was found dead on Sunday morning, and police initially believed she may have drowned accidentally. However more details about her death – including the discovery of her distinctive red Fiat at West Ryde train station on Sunday afternoon – soon convinced detectives she had met foul play.
The results of a postmortem have not been released but Guardian Australia understands the report indicates she was murdered.
NSW police are continuing to interview Haddad’s friends in Sydney and Perth – where she lived before moving to Sydney in 2016 – to “establish a more complete picture” of the popular mining executive.
Haddad’s ex-husband, Felipe Torres, who detectives believe was in Perth at the time of her death, flew from Western Australia to formally identify her body.
In a statement a NSW police spokeswoman said detectives were “continuing to receive incredible support and information from the community, which is assisting their inquiries”. Police are still appealing for CCTV, dashcam, mobile phone and other vision “to put a complete picture together of Ms Haddad’s movements in the days leading up to her death”.
As detectives continue their search for Haddad’s murderer, more details about her life continue to emerge. She had lived in Australia for more than a decade, working as a mining logistics executive in Western Australia and more recently as a consultant for the Australian Rail Track Corporation in Newcastle.
Her brother João described his younger sister as a hard and dedicated worker who had graduated in business and logistics at Rio’s upscale Pontifical Catholic University, where she later mastered in logistics. She had also studied ballet at the city’s municipal theatre.
“She was a very beautiful girl, she danced ballet,” he told Guardian Australia. “She was very intelligent, very happy, very loving.”
