The genesis for Alois Rez’s death can be traced back to the 1970s when his mother Zonia attended the same school as Raymond Isaac Roff, the man who would ultimately be found guilty of his murder.

Aside from their connection through school, the families remained in contact due to the fact Alois was a similar age to Roff’s eldest son.

The pair played sport together but when Alois moved with his mother to Newcastle in his early teens the families fell out of contact with each other until the middle part of 2010, although Raymond Roff maintained a friendship with Zonia Rez’s brother Emil.

Roff, who it was noted was a hard-working family man prior to these matters, was going through a tough time in 2010 as his wife Cathy was receiving cancer treatment in Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital.

The hospital is located near the suburb of Charlestown, where Alois was living with his partner Sarah Renea Tarrant, their four children, and his mother.

Alois Rez and Sarah Tarrant had started a relationship shortly after her 15th birthday, and the teenager moved in with Rez and his mother.

Prior to that, her parents had separated when she was five years of age and she lived with her mother, who disapproved of the relationship and made several attempts to get her away from Alois Rez, who was more than nine years older than her.

Adding to her troubled childhood was a revelation her father had served a term of imprisonment following a conviction for a sexual offence.

Alois Rez, Sarah Tarrant, Zonia Rez and their family would meet socially with the Roffs over the course of time they were in Newcastle and it was this rekindling of old friendships that made the Rez/Tarrant family’s move back to Dubbo in 2012 that little bit easier.

Little did they know that their lives would take a drastic turn a little more than a year later.

Alois Rez, Sarah Tarrant, their four-children and Zonia Rez moved back to Dubbo in June 2012, and upon arriving back in the city they stayed for a short time at the home of Mr Roff, whose wife had sadly passed away in May of that year.

Shortly afterwards the family purchased a home in Alfred Street, which they started renovating.

The move was made after Alois Rez had incurred the strong disapproval of fellow members of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang, of which he had been a member.

Prior to returning to Dubbo the family had changed address several times.

The link to the Rebels would be one excuse put forward in relation to Alois’ disappearance months later.

Roff was a frequent visitor to the new home, both in a capacity as a worker helping with the renovations, and at times just for some company.

As the visits became more and more regular, Roff started to be drawn to the children and to Sarah Tarrant.

He would help look after the children and soon became a confidante for Tarrant, who had started her relationship with Rez shortly after her 15th birthday.

She confided in him though that she was unhappy with Alois, that he was lazy and demanding, and that she received criticism from Zonia Rez.

The growing affection Roff had for Tarrant started to be reciprocated, and in about December of 2012 she started to make what Justice Desmond Fagan described in his sentencing judgement as “very explicit sexual overtures” towards Mr Roff, who was 27 years her senior.

On one occasion she deliberately exposed herself to him and asked if he liked what he had seen.

From January of 2013 she started sending him sexually explicit photos of herself.

In the words of Justice Fagan the “strong encouragement” from Tarrant started to be accepted by Roff, and ultimately led to the couple having their first sexual encounter in March of that year.

By late March, Tarrant had written a long love letter to Roff which stated their growing relationship had given her “a new meaning to life and something to live for”.

The letter ended with a promise to be Roff’s “beautiful wife and bride”.

Roff replied with a letter of his own, outlining his sense of loss following Cathy’s death and stating he wanted to marry Tarrant, promising to be a good husband and father to her children.

From March 2013 onwards they met many times at locations around Dubbo, mostly on weekdays when the children were at school and sometimes twice on such days.

“The passion which the offender came to feel for Sarah Tarrant from late 2012 unhinged his judgement,” Justice Fagan said.

“He had been of sound sense and morality throughout all his adult years to this point.

“By every account given in evidence before me he was a solid, honest, hard-working family man.

“His descent to murder is directly attributable to his infatuation with this young woman.”

A report by a psychologist outlined Roff’s feelings towards Tarrant.

“I was lonely. I could talk to her and what she was telling me was what I wanted to hear,” Roff said.

In May of 2013 Tarrant told Roff that she wanted Alois Rez ‘gone’.

Years of frequent abuse and, in Justic Fagan’s words, “unacceptable physical conduct” had taken its toll.

In delivering his judgement, Justice Fagan told the court of 12 occasions between 2004 and 2013 when Alois Rez had been abusive towards Tarrant.

He also found that Tarrant was exposed to fits of temper, in many of which he smashed or threw items and/or damaged walls by punching them

During her trial, Tarrant gave evidence that she believed there was a plan between herself and Roff to kill her de facto partner.

Justice Fagan stated that he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Tarrant intended to have Alois Rez killed with the assistance of Roff, but also stated he couldn’t be satisfied that Roff agreed at that point in time.

By some date in June 2013, Tarrant knew she was pregnant and believed she was carrying Roff’s baby

On July 23, 2013, Roff spent some time at the Alfred Street house, and after he left Alois Rez accused Tarrant of having an affair with the older man.

He pushed and dragged her along the hallway of the home.

After this happened Tarrant sent Roff a text asking him to contact the police, which he did.

But when police attended the scene she told them there was no problem.

Roff was embarrassed, and two days later expressed anger that she had not pressed on with the complaint to police.

He reiterated an earlier ultimatum delivered on about July 15 that she leave Alois Rez or he would end their relationship.

In July 25, 2013, after expressing his anger about Tarrant not going ahead with the complaint against Rez, Roff gave her a bag of sleeping tablets and told her to crush them into Alois Rez’s meal on a night when Zonia Rez was away.

The instructions were that once Alois was in a deep sleep he would come to the house.

There was no explanation of what he would do to the deceased’s body, only that it would be safer for her to not know the details.

The pair also agreed they would not immediately report Alois missing, and that once a report had been made they would promote a story that he had been kidnapped by the Rebels and “elminated”.

On the afternoon of Sunday, July 28, 2013, Tarrant drove Zonia Rez to the Dubbo Railway Station, where she boarded a train bound for Sydney. She was expected to be away for at least a week.

That night Tarrant mixed the sleeping tablets into a serving of mashed potato that was part of a meal she had prepared for Alois Rez.

She stayed in contact with Roff via text message, informing him of the ongoing effectes the drugs were having on Alois Rez.

The messages included phrases such as “still waiting for it to drop off”, “nothing is getting in the way of tonight” and “I’m hoping he drops off soon. I’m sick of waiting”.

For his part, Roff instructed Tarrant to leave rags on the bed where Alois Rez was sleeping, to leave the front door open and to turn off the security light and CCTV monitor that covered the entry to the home.

Once she was convinced that Alois was asleep, Tarrant messaged Roff once more and he attended the house about 2am.

Roff entered the bedroom and killed Rez in an unknown manner before dragging his body to the front driveway.

Tarrant, who was not in the bedroom when the killing took place, helped Roff load the body, which was wrapped in bedding into the back of his vehicle.

Roff then took the body and disposed of it an an undisclosed location, and instructed Tarrant via SMS to hose off the driveway, which she did.

He took with him Alois Rez’s phone and tobacco, but left behind his wallet.

The next morning Tarrant purchased replacement bedding before going about her usual routine.

“It’s my view and the view of the rest of the team that they did plan this, it has taken some planning to get to that point and especially when it’s been disclosed to us the use of a stupifying drug, being a sleeping tablets to crush up,” Det Sgt Baker said.

“They had to source the drugs from some point, crush it up, wait for a suitable time when the victim’s mother was away so there was some calculation and pre-meditation towards the crime, and planning and preparation to try and pull it off.

“They’ve had to think of a reason as to where he’s gone to tell the authorities or tell relatives.

“It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision in my view and I think that’s the view of the court as well.

“It wasn’t a fit of rage or anything like that, it had to take some planning.”

Having agreed not to report Alois Rez as missing, Roff and Tarrant resumed their relationship.

However Alois’ aunt became aware of his absence from the home and called Zonia Rez to return from Sydney.

Together they visited Dubbo Police Station on Friday, August 2, 2013 to report that he had disappeared.

That same day Roff and Tarrant were interviewed by police for the first time.

In her initial interview Tarrant maintained through two-and-a-half hours of questioning that she had no idea of what had become of Alois Rez. Her only offering was that members of the Rebels may have abducted and harmed him., and that she was anxious about the unexplained absence.

Roff made a statement saying her knew nothing about the circumstances of Alois Rez’s disappearance.

“Initially the family, the partner, didn’t report him missing until Alois’ mother come home from Sydney and they came straight to police station and reported him missing at that time,” Det Sgt Baker said

“I guess we were concerned about the story we were told about how he went missing, involving aspects of the Rebels coming to take him away.

“That story didn’t match up with anything we could see or prove at the crime scene, at the house in Alfred Street.

“Police weren’t aware of his previous connections over in the Newcastle area. The first we had any knowledge he was around was the report of him missing. We had no interaction with Mr Rez at all, apart from the incident a few days prior to his death.

“His family has maintained he wasn’t an angel, but they loved him. He was a loved one with four young kids, a loving mother, sister, brother.

“When he was reported missing and his association to the Rebels was reported, we saw he did have an association but that was years ago so we didn’t think that story gelled with what was happening in the house on that day.”

With suspicions over the story given to them, police quickly zeroed in on Roff and Tarrant as persons of interest.

During the following days police examined Roff’s vehicle and discovered dry blood in its rear compartment.

“They were definitely suspects, persons of interest, at the very beginning,” Det Sgt Baker said.

“From there the investigation progressed with more police getting involved over the next week.”

The seizure of Mr Roff’s vehicle the following Wednesday was significant as far as finding human blood in the vehicle.

“At that stage we didn’t know whose blood it was but we suspected. Until the relevant DNA testing could be completed, which was within days, then the confirmation of Alois’ blood came through the following Monday.

“By that stage we had a search warrant on Raymond Roff’s premises on Friday, August 9 and the disclosure of the relationship between the two of them followed.

“We suspected there was a relationship up until that point but until we found love letters, some underwear and the actual admissions by Mr Roff that they were in a relationship that heightened our suspicions a lot more.

“Subsequent to that in the hours on that Friday evening we had admissions by Sarah Tarrant of involvement in the murder of her partner. Things progressed from there and we laid charges against both of them that evening or in the early hours of Saturday, August 10.”

Laying charges a week after Alois Rez was reported as missing was a win for police, but it didn’t come without hard work.

Det Sgt Baker said countless hours of police work went into that first week, and it didn’t stop despite having the pair pinned for Mr Rez’s death.

“The team we had at that point, we had about eight or 10 detectives working on it,” Det Sgt Baker said.

“That aside we had numerous resources assisting us with crime scene, forensic services, local uniform police as well . They all did a fantastic job.

“It was a very quick turnaround from the reporting of Mr Rez going missing on Friday, August 2 to one week later charging two people with murder without a body.

“It was remarkable, a great team effort. I’m proud of everybody who worked on the team.

“We had hundreds of hours of CCTV footage from around Dubbo to review, a large amount of data came in about the investigation, be it in statements, phone records, the footage.

“It was a large amount of information and probably on Sunday, August 11, we had outside help, four detectives from around the local area came in to assist.

“The team was fairly exhausted at that point in time and we needed the investigation to continue and gather more evidence.

“I guess at that point we were satisfied, especially with Sarah Tarrant’s admission to her involvement and how it took place, coupled with the blood in the car, phone records, and other strategic pieces of evidence i probably can’t go into, that we had a good enough case to go prosecute.”

While charges were laid in a very quick timeframe, it was more than three years later that Roff and Tarrant were sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court.

That timeline fit in with what Det Sgt Baker expected but he concedes it made for a harrowing time for the family and friends of Alois Rez.

“Behind the scenes a lot of work goes into these kind of cases,” he said.

“Just brief preparation alone was 12 months plus, which can push back the court’s time as well.

“Waiting for full DNA results, statements, information that we’ve gathered over time pushes the court back so, no, I wasn’t surprised by the timeframe at all.

“I thought it would be two or three years. Unfortunately for the family they had to sit there for three years for this, and longer if a body is ever given to us.

“It’s just the judicial system we have to go through, there’s no criticism on our behalf.

While both Roff and Tarrant were charged with murder, there were twists as the case progressed through the courts.

An initial request by Tarrant to plead guilty to manslaughter was rejected by the Crown and she was ultimately tried for murder.

However a jury would ultimately find her not guilty of murder, instead convicting her of manslaughter.

According to Justice Fagan “the jury’s verdict necessarily involves a determination that she did at the time suffer ‘an abnormality of mind arising from an underlying condition’.”

Expert psychiatric evidence was given at her trial in a report that Tarrant suffered from three specific mental disorders.

Extracts from principal reports provided by two doctors was presented in the trial and recorded the history Tarrant gave of her relationship with Alis Rez, combined with her childhod experiences were relevant to her mental wellbeing.

“The Crown opposed the plea to manslaughter, and that was my opinion as well,” Det Sgt Baker said.

“We were certain we had a strong case against her for murder, and the jury obviously found otherwise based on expert evidence from a number of doctors.

“My perspective is I was a little disappointed, and I could say the same for the family, but it’s the system we work with and we have to accept it.”

For his part Roff maintained his innocence from the time he was taken into custody right through to the culmination of his trial.

“He’s stood fast, denied all knowledge or involvement in the murder,” Det Sgt Baker said.

“He’s maintained that right through to his conviction and sentence.

“It’s hard for the family. They have some knowledge, to some extent ,of what happened leading up to it, to the point where Mr Roff went into Alois’ room.

“What happened in there is a little bit of a mystery and we know what’s happened to a point after that where his body was last seen in the driveway of the premises before being loaded into the back of the car, and after that we’re not sure.”

More than three years after Alois Rez was killed in his own home, the big question still remaining is where did Raymond Roff dispose of the body?

Right through questioning, both by detectives and in his trial, Roff has denied knowledge or involvement in the crime.

That extends to stonewalling police when it came to the location of Alois Rez’s remains.

With the justice process done and dusted, it’s the one thing the family needs in order to find full closure.

The grief will never go away, but closure can be obtained.

Det Sgt Baker said police have done everything they can think of to find something to give to the family and friends of Alois Rez.

“It’s a fairly large area and we’re still of that opinion that (he was taken) somewhere between Dubbo, out towards Nyngan, south of Narromine, south of Trangie, north of Trangie.

It’s a large area.

“We’ve explored various areas within those locations and we’re at a loss. We’ve had PolAir up, we’ve had police on bikes, searched areas with SES and various other agencies.

“We’re not sure where else we can go. It’s such a big area..

“Mr Rez could be buried or placed out there and never be found unfortunately.

“There’s always hope and I’ll always hold out hope for the family but as time progresses that hope diminishes to some respect. I’m at a loss, I don’t know.”

Asked to sum up the case, Det Sgt Baker spoke of two contrasting emotions - pride and frustration.

Pride in that the team he had at his disposal had done such a good job, frustration that he couldn’t deliver closure to a grieving family.

“I’m very proud. It was a great investigation involving a great team,” he said.

“I guess the frustration is not finding the body.

“But every other aspect of the investigation was put together by a team of skilled and dedicated police. A case like this is the pinnacle of investigations.”

“If it wasn’t for their dedication to the job there would have been aspects of it that could have got lost in the investigation.

“In the end, I’m very proud of everybody that played a part in the investigation, and the family for how they conducted themselves through the investigation and subsequent court proceedings.”