Australia thought a game of cat and mouse between father-son fugitives and police had ended with their arrest, but there was one final ghastly twist.

In the hours after Gino Stocco, 58, and his son Mark, 35, were captured by tactical response officers on Wednesday, NSW police revealed a man’s badly decomposed body was located on the same property where the pair were found.

The father and son have since been charged with murder, as well as a string of other alleged offences collected during eight years on the run.

• Stoccos arrested in Dunedoo, body found
• Police plea on missing pair
• Stoccos likely to be ‘running out of money’
• Hunt for armed father, son fugitives continues

Police believe the dead man was the owner or caretaker of the property near Dunedoo in New South Wales’ central north-east region, and knew he had been missing since October 8.

Media reports named the deceased as Rosario Cimone, 68. The New Daily contacted NSW police for confirmation but they refused to comment.

Police are yet to comment on how he died, but the Daily Mail claims he suffered two shotgun blasts to the stomach before being buried in a shallow grave.

Police earlier revealed one of the deceased’s family members reported vital information which led to the eventual arrest of the Stoccos on the Pinevale property. 

That information triggered a 16-hour stakeout which resulted in the fugitives being captured.

Their location was confirmed by a sighting of the Stoccos in a local bakery, where they reportedly ordered two cappuccinos on the morning of their arrest.

Police believed the father and son had been at the property for a number of days and that they had worked there in the past with the deceased.

“We believe that they actually had been conducting some work there at the premises,” NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Clint Pheeney said.

“But as to the actual nature of that, we are still investigating what those arrangements were.

“What it did [the family member tip-off] is it put the final pieces of the jigsaw together in terms of this property. That is what led us to this property.

Police released this image of the pair taken soon after their arrest on the Pinevile Farm. Photo: Twitter/@NSWpolice

“The telling point, I think, was a member of the community saying or telling us the story about a missing relative and a person who has not been seen for about three weeks.”

Reports said the Stoccos and the deceased had lived on the property together.

The isolated property was regularly used by people working and moving from place to place.

Stoccos ‘very close to being gypsies’

Acting Assistant Commissioner Pheeney said the Stoccos led a nomadic lifestyle, moving from job to job and crime to crime.

“I’d describe them as very close to being gypsies,” he said. “It was only going to be a matter of time before we tracked them down.

He said the pair did not respond to instructions from police during the stand-off that led to their arrest.

Mark Stocco pictured with a muddied face in police custody following arrest. Photo: 9 News

“They were non-compliant in relation to directions given to them during the arrest phase. Obviously we consider these people to be armed and dangerous,” he said.

“Bearing in mind the allegations that will be put before the courts in respect of the incident at Wagga some time ago.”

The police faced “resistance” from the Stoccos during the arrest and this may account for the banged-up and bruised faces both displayed later under police custody, in particular Gino.

He said the arrests were the result of a covert 24-hour operation, involving numerous police and a special operations task force.

After Gino divorced his wife in 2003, Mark and his father became closer, setting off on a yacht they bought with money from the settlement. 

This is when the crime spree began. They would travel from farm to farm, working for a place to sleep and food to eat.

Things turned sour after a dispute on a farm in Canowindra, NSW, in 2014, where the pair are suspected of a $200,000 arson attack.

The Stoccos have been charged with murder, dishonestly obtaining property by deception, police pursuit and discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest, as well as other offences. 

‘He was a good boy’: Stocco patriarch

Gino’s father and Mark’s grandfather, Peter Stocco, spoke through a translator to ABC’s 7:30 program on Wednesday evening.

The Stocco family are Italian migrants and lived where Mr Stocco still resides in North Queensland.

“He was a good boy. His intelligence went awry,” Mr Stocco said.

“I know he did something wrong. I always told him: ‘Change your way. Change your way and do something’.

“They did wrong by having a weapon. They did really wrong there.”

Mr Stocco, 87, had not seen his son in three years, because Gino feared he would be caught if he contacted him by phone.

Click the infographic below for a timeline of the Stoccos on the run