This article contains the names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died. Readers are advised to exercise discretion.

A body believed to be Julian Ingram, the Lake Cargelligo man sought over a triple murder in January, has been found in bushland near Mount Hope, ending a 109-day search that spanned hundreds of thousands of acres of remote Central West New South Wales.

National Parks and Wildlife Service personnel made the discovery at about 3.40pm on Monday while conducting a feral animal eradication operation in Roundhill Nature Reserve, approximately 100 kilometres north-east of Lake Cargelligo. Officers from the Central West Police District attended and located an abandoned ute beside which lay a male body in an advanced state of decomposition. A firearm was found next to the body.

NSW Police Western Region Commander Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland addressed media at Dubbo Police Station on Monday evening, confirming the vehicle bore registration DM07GZ, the same Lachlan Shire Council Ranger Utility Ingram had been driving at the time of the alleged offences in January. A driver’s licence belonging to Ingram was found inside the vehicle.

“It’s yet to be formally identified, but the identification at the scene that we’ve located, the clothing that the deceased is wearing, would lead us to believe that it is him,” AC Holland said.

He said the body appeared to have been at the scene for some time. A crime scene has been established and forensic teams were on site on Monday evening. Formal identification is yet to be completed.

AC Holland said families had been advised by police of the discovery. He said if Ingram had taken his own life, that was his choice, but that police had intended to bring him before the courts.

“It brings closure to the people of Lake Cargelligo and gives some solace to the town,” he said.

AC Holland said police would review the investigation to determine whether search teams had already covered the area in the months prior, given its proximity to Mount Hope, a location that had featured in the investigation since an unconfirmed sighting of Ingram there on January 25.

The discovery brings to an end Strike Force Doberta, the investigation established the day after the shootings to coordinate the search for Ingram across an area of more than 600,000 acres of rugged, arid terrain.

Ingram, 37, also known as Julian Pierpoint, was wanted in connection with the deaths of three people in Lake Cargelligo on the afternoon of January 22, 2026. Police allege he shot and killed his former partner Sophie Quinn, 25, who was seven months pregnant with her unborn son Troy, and Sophie’s new partner John Harris, 32, at a vehicle on Bokhara Street at about 4.30pm. He then allegedly drove to Walker Street, where he shot Sophie’s aunt Nerida Quinn, 50, dead in her driveway. A teenager, Kaleb Macqueen, 19, was also shot at the Walker Street address but survived after being transported to hospital in a critical but stable condition.

Ingram was a weed officer employed by Lachlan Shire Council and was at the time of the alleged offences on bail following charges of stalking and intimidation with intent to cause fear, common assault and property damage. He was also subject to an apprehended violence order and did not hold a New South Wales firearm licence. He fled the scene in the council ute and was never apprehended.

An arrest warrant was issued the following day, January 23, and Strike Force Doberta was formed. Early in the investigation, police expressed confidence Ingram was alive and believed he was being supported by someone in the community, given there was no financial or digital activity detected in his name. On March 10, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Assistant Commissioner Holland announced the NSW Government would offer a $250,000 reward for information leading to Ingram’s arrest. More than 267 reports were received by investigators over the course of the search.

The funerals of Nerida Quinn and Sophie Quinn, alongside Sophie’s unborn son Troy, were held in Lake Cargelligo on March 12, with a significant police presence deployed to ensure the safety of mourners.

By early May, police had shifted their working theory, confirming there was no evidence Ingram was being assisted by a third party. Specialist units were surged into an area west of Mount Hope in the final days of the search.

The firearm found at the scene on Monday has not been confirmed as the weapon used in the January shootings. Formal identification of the deceased will be a matter for the NSW State Coroner.

This article appeared on Back Country Bulletin on 11 May 2026.