JOHN DOUGLAS Bowie has been charged with the murder of his wife after the suspicious disappearance of Walgett's Roxlyn Bowie.
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Ms Bowie was 31 when she was last seen at her home on Saturday June 5, 1982.
The 69-year-old retired ambulance driver was arrested on Friday in Woodford, Queensland, after a renewed investigation into the cold case.
Robbery and Serious Crime Squad commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty addressed the media on Saturday.
"He was sort of half-expecting it to tell the truth," he said.
"I think he had resigned himself to the fact that one day justice would come knocking on the door and yesterday it came knocking on the door."
Strike Force Maluka was set up to investigate Ms Bowie's death after a Coronial Inquest in 2014 found she had died.
![CHARGED: John Bowie (right) has been charged with the murder of his wife, Walgett's Roxlyn Bowie. CHARGED: John Bowie (right) has been charged with the murder of his wife, Walgett's Roxlyn Bowie.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hAWJC77isbRCSsmqzS5A6F/ea9f3637-6027-4a06-8ae2-a1bac31cd62f.jpeg/r0_11_1024_769_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The inquest was unable to determine her cause of death because her body has still not been located.
The man appeared at Brisbane Magistrate Court on a NSW arrest warrant where detectives had his extradition to NSW granted.
Investigators escorted Bowie on a flight to Sydney on Saturday, when he landed he was swarmed by reporters at the airport.
Bowie told the crowd the arrest had been a huge shock to him.
"How do you expect I'm supposed to feel 'aye?" he said.
Asked if he had a message for the person who killed his wife, Bowie said, "I don't even know if she's dead or not."
Police then took him to Surry Hills Police Station.
He has now been charged with murder and was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.
Ms Bowie's disappearance was first investigated in 1982 by local police before it was handed over to the Homicide Squad where the case went cold.
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The Robbery and Serious Crime Squad commenced a renewed investigation into her suspicious disappearance under Strike Force Maluka.
Police were tipped off late last year and returned to Walgett to to dredge a dam on the outskirts of town, however nothing was found.