Brendan VOLLMOST
Brendan VOLLMOST
Updated
Police have released "confronting" and "disturbing" CCTV footage in a renewed appeal for information about the suspected murder of a man from north-west Sydney.
Brendan Vollmost, 23, was last seen late on March 31 at his house in South Windsor.
"We haven't been able to find Brendan and in an unusual type of appeal we're actually releasing the CCTV images," Detective Inspector Russell Oxford said.
The newly released footage shows Mr Vollmost being chased into the backyard of his house in South Windsor by four men.
Police allege he was bashed there, before being abducted and driven away in a car.
"What you'll find with the images is they're very graphic, they're confronting, and above all they're very distressing and it depicts the last moments in Brendan Vollmost's life," Detective Inspector Oxford said.
Earlier in the night, police allege Mr Vollmost had been involved in a car pursuit around South Windsor that ended at his home in Cox Street, where he jumped out of the window of a car and was chased into his yard.
"During the night it would appear that he's been followed and pursued by another car and at one stage [we] believe this car has rammed the car that he was in," Detective Inspector Oxford said.
"What we're anxious to find is that people who view the vision might be able to identify these four men who we believe could assist us with our inquiries."
Police believe Mr Vollmost has been murdered due to the graphic nature of the CCTV footage.
"The indicators are that he hasn't used his bank accounts or his social media accounts [or] his phones," Detective Inspector Oxford said.
"[He] hasn't made any contact with the family."
Mr Vollmost's cousin Jodie Ferris on Wednesday made an emotional plea for anyone to come forward with information.
"We just need some answers to find him," she said.
"It has taken its toll, not only on his mum but his younger siblings, who are suffering," she said.
"They don't understand why their brother's not coming home, or where he is, or why somebody would want to take him.
Mr Vollmost was known to police and officers are investigating his links with a group called the Blood Brothers.
"Little is known about this group. We certainly don't think they're some type of major crime network," Detective Inspector Oxford said.
"It's more what we think is just a group of males, a group of friends, that have come together and called themselves Blood Brothers.
"We've received some information that suggests that the four men that we're looking for may have some connection to this group. We believe they're within the western suburbs of Sydney."
Police said they believe the disappearance was connected with drugs.
"Brendan Vollmost is a young man known to police," Detective Inspector Oxford said.
"We are obviously looking at a line of inquiry in relation to drugs."
Police are also looking for a white hatchback with NSW registration BNY 72R shown in the CCTV footage.
"We're renewing our appeal in regards to smash repairers or scrap metal dealers possibly in the western suburbs of Sydney," Detective Inspector Oxford said.
"The car may have been brought to one of these locations."
Police have urged anyone with information in relation to Mr Vollmost's disappearance to call Crime Stopperson 1800 333 000.
Members of a group linked to street-level drug dealing, with self-appointed nicknames such as the "captain" and "coach", have been arrested after allegedly abducting and murdering a South Windsor man.
Police will allege the motive for following Brendan Vollmost to his home on March 31 before bashing and abducting him stemmed from the local drug trafficking trade.
CCTV captured Mr Vollmost's final movements that night, including a desperate attempt to run from his attackers and jump over his fence.
His partner was home at the time.
Detectives believe Mr Vollmost was chased into his back shed and bashed, most likely to death, before his body was carried out into a white Hyundai i30.
His body, and the car he was bundled into, have not been found. Police believe the car was put through a scrap metal dealer in a bid to dispose of it.
They are also looking into the possibility it may have had Mr Vollmost's body inside.
On Thursday morning, police arrested three men - aged 33, 25 and 25 - during raids in Quakers Hill and Lalor Park.
A fourth man, 25, was arrested during a vehicle stop in the Hawkesbury region.
The men are expected to be charged with murder and will front Mt Druitt and Blacktown Local Courts on Thursday.
Police allege the men arrested are part of a group dubbed the Blood Brothers.
"They are a group that are involved in drug activity in the Windsor area," Robbery and Serious Crime Squad Detective Acting Superintendent Mick Sheehy said.
"They are a group of individuals who have given themselves the tag.
"They seem to want to be known as some sort of criminal identity. We don't see them as an organised crime group by any means."
It is understood two of the group's leaders refer to themselves as "coach" and "captain".
Detective Sheehy said it would be alleged Mr Vollmost's murder was linked to drug trafficking in the Windsor area.
On the back of the Thursday's arrests, police hope anyone with information who may have been hesitant to come forward in the past will do so now.
"There is a lot of people who had concerns because the four individuals had not been arrested," Detective Sheehy said.
"The time has now changed. They are in custody and we would like to again speak to anybody who would have information."
Mr Vollmost's family see the arrests as a "step forward" but there is still a long way to go.
"From their point of view, the location of Brendan's body is significant to them," Detective Sheehy said.
- Bellingen Shire Courier-Sun
Police investigating the disappearance and suspected murder of a man near Sydney are seeking information on a white utility seen in Bellingen and Dorrigo in April this year.
Brendan Vollmost, 23, was allegedly chased into his yard at Cox Street, South Windsor, about 10.30pm on Tuesday 31 March 2015.
He was later carried into a white Hyundai i30 and driven from the scene. Mr Vollmost has not been seen since and police believe he was murdered. His body has never been recovered.
Robbery and Serious Crime Squad detectives have been investigating Mr Vollmost’s disappearance under Strike Force Orander and arrested four men last month who remain before the court.
Investigations are ongoing and detectives are appealing for information about a distinctive white utility seen in the Bellingen and Dorrigo areas on the evening of Wednesday 1 April 2015 or early on Thursday 2 April 2015.
The Holden Commodore utility had a smart bar, mag wheels and a silver roll bar, as well as a dark-coloured tarpaulin over the rear tray.
Police have since seized the vehicle, but would like to speak to anyone who saw it in the Dorrigo or Bellingen areas or has any information about the activities of its occupants.
Police are urging anyone with information in relation to this incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
A Sydney killer says he can't give the victim's family closure because the young man's beaten body was put in a large toolbox and sent to a scrap metal yard.
Jack Davies, 29, is among four people - dubbed the Blood Brothers - who admitted to killing South Windsor man Brendan Vollmost in late-March 2015.
Mr Vollmost was filmed sprinting into his property, trailed by the four men, moments before he was bashed in his backyard shed.
His body has never been found, and never will be, Davies told a packed courtroom during the quartet's sentence hearing.
"I can't give the Vollmosts any closure," Davies told the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.
Davies and his co-offenders - Jamie Michael Tilley, 37, William Patrick Thomas and Mitchell James Bentley, both 29 - pleaded guilty to manslaughter and an additional charge of concealing a corpse earlier this year.
At least three violent blows were inflicted on Mr Vollmost in the shed by Davies and Bentley before Thomas and Tilley carried the limp body down the driveway and placed him on the back seat of the group's station wagon. The group then drove away.
Davies said the quartet - convinced they'd be caught by police the next morning - sliced up the Hyundai and buried it in a national park.
Mr Vollmost's body was stored in a large tradies' toolbox until Davies decided to take it to a scrap metal yard, hiding it in the back of a dark station wagon due to be scrapped.
"Brendan had been at my house for some time. I just wanted the problem gone," he said.
"The station wagon ... presented an opportunity."
He rejected the Crown's suggestion he made up that story to hide the body's actual location and the chance for police to examine the wounds.
It made "no sense" to be sentenced for an additional charge and not give closure to Mr Vollmost's mother, Tammy Slade, Davies said.
"The body is f***ing gone and I can't bring it back. I'm sorry but that's the way it is" he said.
"I'm not a thief. I'm not a murderer."
Davies said he realised the gravity of the bashing when he saw Mr Vollmost was dead and was "truly sorry" to the victim's family, especially Mr Vollmost's younger siblings.
"I'm just so sorry that we're here today because of me."
The quartet, arrested after six months on the run, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the eve of a second Supreme Court trial this year.
Their first trial - in which they pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping - resulted in a hung jury.
They will be sentenced on November 29.
Australian Associated Press