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Allegations Christopher Michael Dawson executed the perfect crime in killing his wife without a trace while leaving all her belongings at home have been criticised as nonsensical.

At Dawson's murder trial on Wednesday, barrister Pauline David said it would have been extraordinary if her client planned to kill Lynette Dawson and dispose of her body while forgetting to at least pack a suitcase of her clothes to make it look like she had left.

"If he has the capacity to not only kill her ... and dispose of the body in a very short period of time, it seems nonsensical that one would leave all her clothes intact," Ms David told the NSW Supreme Court.

There was not a skerrick of scientific or forensic evidence to suggest Dawson had killed his wife as alleged, the barrister said.

Not only would he have had to kill his wife while his children were at home on the night of January 8, 1982, Ms David argued he would have then raised alarm bells about the disappearance the following day while her body remained at the house and then disposed of it without being seen.

After Justice Harrison pointed out that Dawson was a former athlete and that the house was more or less vacant, Ms David said he did not have the social wherewithal to know how to get rid of a body.

Dawson, now 73, was an honest man who had kept his wife's belongings in their Bayview, Sydney home exactly as she had left them when she walked out in January 1982, the court heard.

Dawson is accused of murdering his wife because she was an obstacle to his relationship with his then teenage lover and babysitter, known as JC.

Mrs Dawson abandoned the home as a woman scorned but left her two daughters with her husband, knowing they would be taken care of by a loving father in a good home, Ms David told the court.

Mrs Dawson was alive until at least 1984 when a final sighting of her working as a nurse at Rockcastle Hospital in Curl Curl, Sydney was made by former neighbours Jill and Peter Breese, Ms David said.

Justice Ian Harrison questioned her about this alleged sighting, asking why Mrs Dawson would take up work at a hospital a "stone's throw" from where she previously lived.

"It is a curious thing for someone with her putative desire to stay away from everyone to expose herself to an employment position in the very area where she's most likely to be identified," the judge said.

Ms David argued that Mrs Dawson could have been there in a temporary role as an agency nurse and that she may have thought the chances of meeting anyone she knew there were low.

Claims by Dawson's brother-in-law Ross Hutcheon that he had spotted Mrs Dawson near Gladesville Hospital in 1982 were also questioned by Justice Harrison.

He pointed out that Lynette Hutcheon did not mention the claimed sighting to Dawson in an intercepted phone call made after she and her husband were first interviewed by police in 1999.

"How could a relative of the deceased not appreciate the significance of a sighting showing (Mrs Dawson) to be alive in an investigation or discussion with detectives who are trying to find out what happened to her?" the judge asked.

Ms David attacked the police's credibility, saying they ignored reports of alleged sightings of Mrs Dawson after January 1982.

She claimed former detective Damian Loone deliberately misled the investigation and lied to a 2003 inquest because of his fixed view Mrs Dawson had been murdered.

Justice Harrison also grappled with the fact that only one person had emerged with a sighting of Mrs Dawson in recent years despite an avalanche of publicity about the case.

Ms David submitted that certain people may not have been interested in true crime stories and that Mrs Dawson would now look very different if she was still alive as a 72-year old woman.

The trial continues on Thursday.

© AAP 2022

The NSW State Emergency Service has ordered 85,000 people to evacuate or prepare to leave areas likely to flood or be isolated as severe weather drenches parts of the state.

EVACUATION ORDERS ARE IN PLACE FOR PARTS OF:

* Combo, Whittingham, Scotts Flat, Glenridding, Dunnolly, Central Macdonald, Lower Macdonald, Upper Macdonald, St Albans, Wrights Creek, Webbs Creek, Bulga, Broke, Wollombi, Tuggerah, Budgewoi Lakes, Windsor, Shanes Park, Pitt Town, Pitt Town Bottoms, McGraths Hill, Mulgrave, Vineyard, Chipping Norton, Lower Portland, Wisemans Ferry, Richards, Wilberforce, Cattai, Sackville, Londonderry, Ebenezer, Riverstone, Agnes Banks, South Maroota, Yarramundi, Penrith, Wallacia, Leets Vale, Cumberland Reach, Oakville, North Richmond, Freemans Reach, Bligh Park, Richmond Lowlands, Angus, Cornwallis, Gronos Point, Bents Basin, Camden

EVACUATION WARNINGS ARE IN PLACE FOR PARTS OF:

* Singleton, Colo, Mooney Mooney Dam, Schofields, Windsor Downs, Marsden Park, Melonba, Mulgoa, Clarendon, Leonay, South Windsor, Cranebrook, Regentville, Castlereagh, Elderslie

MAJOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING ALONG:

* Hunter River at Singleton (13.15m, rising)

* Hawkesbury River at North Richmond (12.16m, steady), at Sackville (10.38m, steady), at Windsor (12.7m, falling), and at Wisemans Ferry (5.43m, steady)

* Wollombi Brook at Bulga (9.1m, steady) and at Wollombi (12.77m, falling)

* Tuggerah Lake at Long Jetty (1.67m, steady)

MODERATE FLOODING IS OCCURRING ALONG:

* Colo River at Upper Colo (13.33m, steady)

* Nambucca River at Bowraville (7.6m, rising)

RESIDENTS CAN RETURN WITH CAUTION TO PARTS OF:

* Emu Heights, Emu Plains, Peach Tree Creek, Lansvale, Warwick Farm, Georges Hall, Moorebank, East Hills, Chipping Norton, Picnic Point, Pleasure Point, Bonnet Bay, Woronora, Sandy Point, Lake Illawarra, St Georges Basin, Sussex Inlet, Plough and Harrow Dam near Abbotsbury and Cecil Hills.

© AAP 2022

The man accused of opening fire on a July 4 parade near Chicago has been charged with seven counts of murder, as police revealed they had reported him as posing a "clear and present danger" after alleged threats to his family in 2019.

Robert E. Crimo III, 21, is suspected of shooting his victims from a sniper's perch on a rooftop above the parade in the suburb of Highland Park, Illinois.

He would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted, Illinois state attorney Eric Reinhart said.

Reinhart said the murder indictments would be followed by "dozens more charges" and he would ask that Crimo remains in custody without bail at the suspect's first court appearance, scheduled for Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear whether Crimo had a lawyer.

The 21-year-old had planned the attack for weeks, officials said on Tuesday.

They said he fired more than 70 rounds at random into the crowd watching Monday's parade, and dressed in women's clothes to help conceal his identity and blend in with the panic-stricken crowd as he fled.

"He blended right in with everybody else as they were running around, almost as if he was an innocent spectator as well," said Sergeant Chris Covelli, a spokesman for the Lake County Sheriff's office, adding the suspect has distinctive facial tattoos.

In addition to the seven victims killed by gunfire, more than three dozen others were treated in hospitals for gunshot wounds and other injuries.

Covelli said Crimo had two previous encounters with law enforcement - an April 2019 emergency-911 call reporting he had attempted suicide and another in September of that year regarding alleged threats "to kill everyone" directed at family members.

Police responding to the second incident seized a collection of 16 knives, a dagger and a sword amassed by Crimo in his home, though no arrest was made as authorities at the time lacked probable cause to take him into custody, Covelli said.

But a state 'red flag' system, designed to allow police to seek a court order to seize weapons from people who are deemed a danger to themselves or others, appeared to have broken down.

The shooting took place in a neighbourhood with a large Jewish population, but police had no immediate evidence of any anti-Semitic or racist basis.

Investigators were reviewing videos Crimo had posted on social media containing violent imagery.

The suspect used a high-powered rifle for the attack, similar to an AR-15, which he dropped at the scene.

He had a similar rifle in his mother's car, which he was driving when police took him into custody, and owned other firearms, all of which were bought legally in Illinois, officials said.

In all, Crimo had purchased five firearms, including rifles and pistols.

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said the community of 30,000 was in shock.

"This tragedy should have never arrived at our doorsteps," she told NBC News.

"As a small town, everybody knows somebody who was affected by this directly and, of course, we are all still reeling."

The US Supreme Court last month asserted a constitutional right to carry weapons in public in a ruling making it easier for pro-gun groups to overturn modern gun regulations.

It has since thrown out a lower court ruling upholding Maryland's ban on assault weapons.

Congress last month passed its first major federal gun reform in three decades, providing federal funding to states that administer red flag laws.

The law does not ban sales of assault-style rifles or high-capacity magazines.

Rotering said on Tuesday she did not know where the gun the gunman used came from but added that it was legally obtained.

"Our nation needs to have a conversation about these weekly events involving the murder of dozens of people with legally obtained guns," she said.

The suspect's father, Bob Crimo, ran Bob's Pantry and Deli in Highland Park for at least 18 years, according to a Chicago Tribune business profile.

Bob Crimo closed the deli in 2019 before he unsuccessfully ran against Rotering for mayor of Highland Park.

© RAW 2022