Queensland police have confirmed a father suspected of murdering his baby son before taking his own life on the Sunshine Coast this week was caught speeding on Sunday evening, the night the infant had been reported missing.
The body of the six-month-old and his 46-year-old father were found by council workers inside a Holden Commodore on a remote dirt road in the Beerburrum forests on Wednesday morning.
It remains unclear how the pair died, however police said it was most likely a murder-suicide.
No weapon was found in the vehicle.
The baby's distraught mother alerted police early on Sunday night when her son was not handed back after the father's visitation weekend.
Police confirmed the couple had separated.
But it appears there was a time lag between her notifying police and the information reaching officers on patrol.
Assistant Commissioner Sharon Cowden, from Queensland Police Ethical Standards Command, confirmed an officer from the road policing unit pulled the man over, but let him go as there were no "red flags" in the system at that time.
"The circumstances are tragic and it is not something anyone wants to be exposed to or have to deal with," she said.
"I don't have any indications that the child was with the man at the time, but I can't understand the full circumstances this early.
Officer 'traumatised' at child's death
Assistant Commissioner Cowden said the officer who let the man go after breathalysing him using his "discretion", was now "struggling" and was "quite traumatised" by the baby's death.
"The use of discretion is something that in certain circumstances is available to a police officer," she said.
Assistant Commissioner Cowden said she visited with the heartbroken mother on Friday morning.
The mother is demanding to know why no Amber Alert was issued after she reported her son had not been returned as part of their custody arrangement.
Amber Alerts are urgent public broadcasts issued to help locate abducted or missing children that typically attract widespread media attention.
The family's heartbreak has come as Queensland Police confirmed they were reviewing the actions taken to protect the baby, with the findings to be reported to the state coroner.
Family Court access rulings 'Russian roulette'
Hetty Johnston from child advocacy group Bravehearts said she was alarmed an amber alert was not issued immediately.
"Really confused about why an Amber Alert was not issued, but I am equally confused about why, if the child was reported missing when the police officer pulled him over, it did not come up on an internal police alert," she said.
"But when you look at the volume of orders issued in the Family Court allowing access to dangerous people, you start to understand what police around the country are left to deal with.
"These kids are not being returned. It is Russian roulette."
Assistant Commissioner Cowden said Queensland police would investigate its processes to try and prevent it from happening again.
"One of the things that QPS will do is that we need to look at the systems, the processes, the warnings, the decision-making, so that we can actually understand what has happened," she said.
"We want to learn the lessons as much as anyone else, because one death of a child is too many."
Assistant Commissioner Cowden acknowledged Amber Alerts were helpful at times, but said they could also be "dangerous" or the "wrong tactical move" in certain circumstances.
The day the bodies were discovered, police said they did treat the case as "high risk" when it became clear the father had taken the baby.
At that time, Sunshine Coast crime group Detective Inspector David Drinnen said: "The mere fact we have a custody incident where a child is missing and is with the father, that always raises concerns for us".
"This was treated as a high risk missing person investigation.
"We worked with Moreton police in relation to this to undertake extensive searches and inquiries to try and locate the missing person and child."
