David Eastman's infamous blue Mazda, from which gunshot residue on its boot carpet was used to build the original murder case against the now-acquitted former public servant, will remain in police hands indefinitely.
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The Mazda has been racked and locked, gathering a thick layer of dust, at the police property office in Mitchell since it was seized as a key exhibit following the arrest of Mr Eastman for the January 1989 murder of AFP Assistant Police Commissioner Colin Winchester.
Mr Eastman served 19 years for the murder before he was found not guilty in a retrial in November.
The Mazda 626 was purchased by the federal police under the order of former AFP Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland, then a detective attached to Operation Peat, the dedicated police team formed to investigate Mr Winchester's murder.
The car wasn't bought directly from Mr Eastman but from an unnamed Curtin resident who had bought it from Mr Eastman sometime after the shooting in Deakin late on January 9, 1989.
Police tracked down the new owner and paid $7000 for it - a sizeable sum at the time for a then 10-year-old car. The Mazda's complete interior, including carpets, seats, glovebox and boot, was then the subject of an exhaustive forensic examination, hair by hair and particle by particle.
Its battery missing, the unassuming little car has hardly turned a wheel in nearly 20 years. It has remained a curiousity and an odd talking point for visitors to the police warehouse ever since.
It gets shuffled around by forklift and, if not for its role in the high-profile case, would be easily overlooked amid the dozens of other seized cars racked up around the police warehouse.
Sergeant Gary Noble, who heads up the centre, said an official police purchase of a particular exhibit, such as the former Eastman Mazda, was a rarity.
"With murder and serious crime cases, we hold the exhibits for as long as they are required by the case officer," Sgt Noble said.
Exhibits can range from clothing and personal effects to weapons and phones.
"It's up to the case officer to advise us if the items are no longer required. But if cases are adjourned for lengthy periods, then we are legally required to hold them here," he said.
"It's a bit of headache for us, of course, because stuff just builds up here and it's up to my staff to keep track of it all."
Details around this purchase are patchy as paper records have long since given way to electronic logging. But former federal agent Overland's name is on the original transfer of registration documentation.
Mr Overland is a former ACT police officer whose career included a stint as the Victorian Police Commissioner. Now the chief executive of Whittlesea Council in Victoria, Mr Overland's turbulent period as Victoria's top cop is again threatening to embroil him in controversy over the scandal around a high profile lawyer, known as informant 3838, providing valuable police evidence against her gangland clients.
There were over 200 cars held at the warehouse midway through this year, but the number is gradually coming down. A large proportion of the cars has since been auctioned off, while others have been sent to the metal recyclers. But the Eastman Mazda remains as a constant, poignant reminder of a murder case which still remains unsolved.
