An excavator has been brought in to dig at a Brisbane home as police investigate the suspected murder of US citizen Priscilla Brooten who disappeared last year.
The 46-year-old woman disappeared from Bracken Ridge in July last year but wasn't reported missing until December.
"We share the fear of Ms Brooten's family and friends and have reason to believe she may have met with foul play," Detective Senior Sergeant Michael Hogan told reporters on Saturday.
The woman was a keen gamer and police believe she may have raised fears about her safety to the online community before her disappearance.
Online friends and associates may not have even known she was missing and police have urged them to come forward, he said.
Police ramped up the search for the missing mother-of-one on Saturday, using cadaver dogs to comb the Bracken Ridge home of her former partner.
The 44-year-old is in custody, but no charges have been laid.
The pair had been in a relationship for more than a year before she disappeared and he failed to report her missing.
