The investigation into the murder of Cairns woman Toyah Cordingley is looking at "several persons of interest" and speculation about possible suspects is not helping those working on the case, police have warned.
Police say the investigation is far from over, despite intense media speculation over a "key suspect".
Ms Cordingley, 24, was killed while walking her dog along Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns in October.
Several media outlets have named Innisfail-based nurse Rajwinder Singh, as a person of interest.
But Acting Sergeant Russell Parker from Cairns Police has called for calm, saying there were "several persons of interest" and media scrutiny of Mr Singh's family was unhelpful.
"There's a danger that with this being reported that we have solved this and I can assure everyone that no, we haven't solved it, in fact we are a long, long way from the end of this investigation," he said.
"This family has absolutely nothing to do with this investigation and they are not able to go about their normal daily lives because of the increased pressure from the media."
Mr Singh's brother, Harpreet Singh, made an appeal for his brother to come home, to Innisfail.
"He would never do this," Mr Singh said.
"He has made no contact and we would like to talk to him."
Acting Sergeant Parker said the Australian Federal Police and the Indian Government were not involved in the investigation, despite media reports.
He said police are now looking into who leaked the information about Mr Singh being a person of interest.
"There is a reason why we don't release information about persons of interest," he said.
"We're unsure of how those media organisations got hold of that information.
"We don't know where it has come from and that's certainly the subject of another inquiry."
He urged people to continue to contact CrimeStoppers with any information.
