09.00 pm, Monday February 13 2012

Police make appeal in slain family case

16:25 AEDT Wed Jul 22 2009
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Epping house
Detectives have turned to a Sydney community to help solve the case of a family slain in their home.

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Police are anxious to interview friends of a mature-age Chinese student who dropped out of university several months before she and four family members were bashed to death in Sydney.

As forensic investigators examine the Lin family's Sydney home for a fifth day, police said they were eager to speak to anyone who may have known 39-year-old Irene Yin.

Ms Yin arrived in Australia 12 months ago to study at Macquarie University and stay with her sister's family.

She was bludgeoned to death along with her sister, Yun Li Lin, her sister's husband Min Lin and the couple's two sons Henry, 12, and Terry, nine, who were all found at their home in Epping on Saturday.

Homicide Squad Commander Geoff Beresford said Ms Yin had been living at the Boundary Road home for the past 12 months and had studied business at Macquarie for about six months.

A team of about 30 investigators was "particularly interested" in speaking to the aunt's friends and former uni colleagues, he said.

"Any fellow students who could offer any sort of information concerning this lady, we'd like to hear from them," Detective Inspector Beresford told reporters.

Detectives are attempting to find out which groups she was involved with at university.

"We believe she was at the university for about six months and we need to confirm those details," Det Supt Beresford said.

Other family members in Sydney have been cooperating with investigators, but police declined to say whether Irene Yin had a partner.

"I'm not going to comment on other family details," Det Supt Beresford said.

"Suffice to say, we are seeking information again from other associates who may not have contacted police already."

Investigators say they will be "heavily reliant" on forensic results to determine whether there was more than one killer.

Visual identification of the victims' faces was not possible and police were relying on forensic techniques to confirm their identity, Det Supt Beresford said.

"Specifically, what we're looking for is anyone who had social contact with the family, were friends to any extent who may be able to provide us with those intricate details that only the family would know," he said.

Building a victim profile of the family would hopefully lead police to a motive for the crime, he said.

Det Supt Beresford ruled out race as a motive and said he was pleased with the progress of the investigation.

"We're still convinced this is a targeted attack, certainly not race-related."

Reports of frightened neighbourhood children having trouble sleeping were "regrettable," but it was a "normal reaction" to a crime of such magnitude, he said.

Post-mortem examinations will continue until Friday, while toxicology results are not expected for several weeks.

The only remaining member of the Lin family, 15-year-old daughter Brenda, was speaking to investigators daily, he said.

Brenda was overseas on a school trip when the killings occurred is now being looked after by relatives.

The North Epping branch of Bendigo Bank has set up a Brenda Lin Support Fund. Donations can be made to BSB 633000, Account 137615498 or by phoning (02) 9869 0818.

At a community meeting on Tuesday night, police asked local residents for any snippets of information about the Lin family, however trivial.

"They want to know where they were, what teams did the children play in, what hobbies they had, how they spent their day," North Epping resident Jennifer Lugsdin told Fairfax Radio Network.

Ms Lugsdin said parents and teachers were concerned about how to deal with children traumatised by such a brutal crime.

 
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