A discarded bank card, pools of blood and women's shoes pointed police to where a grisly death may have began in Sydney's inner-west.
The death of Miming Listiyiani, 27, whose naked body was found floating in the shallows of Parramatta River, was allegedly at the hands of Bali nine drug ring "lieutenant" Khanh Thanh Ly.
A nude Ly was allegedly found standing over Ms Listiyiani's body near Cabarita Wharf just before midnight on Thursday.
As detectives attempted to retrace the Indonesian national's final steps on Friday, they tracked her demise through at least three suburbs.
Detectives believe Ly picked up Ms Listiyiani, who is believed to have just returned to Australia from overseas, from her modern, dual-level home in Cabarita on Thursday.
Neighbours say they recognised Ly's Audi from outside her Edgewood Crescent home.
Police believe the pair ended up in the neighbouring waterside suburb of Breakfast Point late on Thursday night.
Pools of blood on the footpath and grass on Vineyard Way led police to believe a violent assault unfolded on the quiet street.
Carmen Mono came out of her home at 7am on Friday and found a pair of women's shoes and blood stains on a bush outside.
"The shoes were over near the bush and the blood was on the footpath," she said.
"I don't usually come out the front exit but I did this morning and saw all the blood and thought 'what has happened?"
Ms Mono said another man walked across the street to find more blood, along with Ms Listiyiani's bankcard.
Detectives are investigating the possibility Ms Listiyiani was bundled into the back of Ly's Audi and driven to Cabarita Wharf.
Officers found Ms Listiyiani's body, naked and with cuts to her face, floating in about 30cm of water just off Cabarita wharf.
Paramedics tried to revive her but believe she may have been dead for some time before they arrived.
A naked Ly was arrested and taken to Burwood Police Station, where he was charged late on Friday afternoon with her murder.
Ly's Audi, found parked near Cabarita Wharf, was towed away for forensic examination.
Police said they did not believe this was a random attack and that the pair were known to each other.
It is understood there was a delay in him speaking to police because he was not in a fit state to be interviewed.
Ly was refused bail and is due to appear before Parramatta Local Court on Saturday.
His arrest comes years after Ly came to public attention for his role as the "lieutenant" in a drug syndicate that also involved executed Bali nine members Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.
Ly, then an accounting student, flew to Bali three times under the orders of Sukumaran, who was also his school friend.
Ly has said he was responsible for organising and supervising a number of Australian mules while in Bali and he practised strapping plastic bags of flour to their bodies as a "dress rehearsal".
On the back of the alleged murder, police spent hours searching Ly's family home at Lidcombe taking with them several bags of evidence.
A man believed to be Ly's father was at home as the search unfolded.
"I don't care, go away," he said on Friday when approached by Fairfax Media.
"It's not your business, go away."
Burwood Local Area Command Detective Superintendent Mark Jones said police didn't believe it was a random attack.
"We believe this pair may well have been known to each other and it's something we're looking at," he told reporters.
He said homicide detectives were looking in "great detail" at whether Ms Listiyiani had been killed at another site and her body dumped in the river.
Detective Superintendent Jones said the death of the "very nice young lady" was a tragedy.
