Double-murder killers remain unidentified
Police appeal for help as 16 year anniversary approaches.
Almost 16 years after the shocking and frenzied killings of a NSW drug dealer and his partner, police are chasing up fresh leads linked to a bikie gang.
Robert Pashkuss, 51, and Stacey McMaugh, 41, died from terrible head injuries caused by a heavy, blunt object in their home at Caves Beach, near Lake Macquarie, in January 2008.
No arrests or charges have ever been made.
Today, Superintendent Tracy Chapman, the Lake Macquarie Police District Commander, revealed police had received information pointing towards the Outlaw motorcycle gang, a group that is notorious for violent crime and a trade in illicit drugs.
Chapman said Pashkuss was seen out the front of his Caves Beach property on the afternoon of January 5, 2008, with a man who was wearing a black leather vest. Other men were also present, she said.
Pashkuss seemed agitated, police have been told.
“I’m not suggesting that (Pashkuss) was directly involved with outlaw motorcycle gangs but certainly he had some involvement in the drug trade,” she said.
Chapman said the killers were likely still living in the area.
A coronial inquest in 2016 found Pashkuss was hit from behind at least eight times before the attacker or attackers searched the house and hit McMaugh two or three times.
The couple’s bodies were found by one of their children the next day.
“The homicides were very violent and possibly even frenzied,” Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon said at the time.
The inquest heard Pashkuss may have recently stopped dealing drugs such as ice because he did not like its effect on people.
A woman named Georgia, speaking today on behalf of the families, said the murders had “devastated” surviving family, who longed for answers and justice.
“We know someone knows what happened to Robert and Stacey that day,” she said.
McMaugh was well known in their community as a tireless volunteer.
She worked with the Mattara Festival and NSW Cancer Council, and volunteered as the entertainment manager for the Newcastle Regional Show.
A reward of $250000, announced in 2016, remains unclaimed.
Police have urged anyone who knows something about the killings to come forward.
