By the time Tony Byrne attended Rose Bay police station early on the morning of his daughter's disappearance he knew she was dead.
Caroline Byrne's body would not be found in Sydney's east for another three hours, but her father today told the NSW Supreme Court he already suspected the worst.
"I have to say I was convinced that Caroline was dead, even though she was still missing," he said.
Mr Byrne had been woken about 12.30am by a call from his daughter's boyfriend, Gordon Wood, saying she had vanished and that he'd found her car at The Gap.
Wood has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 24-year-old model and deportment teacher, and is facing a four-month trial.
Together with his son, Peter, Mr Byrne said he travelled with Wood to the eastern Sydney cliff to search for signs of his daughter.
Wood was agitated and swearing, in a high-pitched voice, that he and Caroline had been "fine, everything was normal", Mr Byrne said.
However, it wasn't long before the retired building manager said he began to feel suspicious.
"I began to question Gordon's truthfulness with where we were being led and what we were being told to do," Mr Byrne told the court.
Wood kept telling him "I love you, I love you, you are my father", and could not explain what led him to The Gap to search for Ms Byrne.
He later told her family it was "Caroline's spirit that told me where to find her".
"I said: `Gordon, that's bizarre'," Mr Byrne said.
"It's a pity you didn't have this telecommunication at 6pm when you arrived home and fell asleep."
He said Wood immediately advocated the theory Ms Byrne committed suicide, producing a psychiatric referral from her doctor at the police station as proof.
"She was depressed," Wood said, brandishing the document.
"This is a referral to a psychiatrist. She's taken her own life."
Mr Byrne said there was "no way" his daughter would have killed herself, adding he found Wood's explanations for her alleged depression "totally unacceptable".
Wood told a number of people the model had died in a car accident, and Mr Byrne said his behaviour went from the absurd to the "insane".
When he raised his concerns with police, Mr Byrne said he was told they accepted Wood's claims of suicide.
Mr Byrne said he had feared for his daughter's safety and didn't trust Wood, who worked as a chauffeur for flamboyant, high-profile stockbroker Rene Rivkin.
"You don't have to worry about me, Daddy," Ms Byrne had assured him.
"Gordon loves me, he would not hurt a hair on my head."
The trial continues.
