in july 1849, the south australian advocate general produced a summary of the investigation to date. several difficulties were detailed, including the fact that parker denied any knowledge of the crime, as did others who were believed to have heard the incident, discussed in brown's presence. brown's co-accused, eastwood, alias "yorkie", had fled when the investigation began and had apparently left the colony aboard a whaling ship off kangaroo island. an important witness named joice had gone to the neighbouring port phillip district of the colony of new south wales, and leandermin himself, who it appears was being detained at guichen bay, absconded and had allegedly been "made away with". the remaining witnesses were those that knew brown, and apparently would not give evidence against him. despite the extremely difficult task faced by the prosecution under these circumstances, the advocate general ordered that investigations continue and issued warrants for the arrest of those that had fled south australia. brown appeared at the supreme court yet again on 10 and 28 september, but the judge again refused to hear the case without further evidence. by the november sittings of the court, brown's case had been removed from the listings, and this was the end of the matter as far as the formal investigation was concerned. effectively, settler solidarity and the law of evidence ensured that brown was never tried for the murders, despite the fact that those involved in the investigation had no doubt of his guilt. possibly in response to brown's case, the aboriginal witnesses act of 1848 was amended in july 1849 to allow a person to be convicted on the sole testimony of an aboriginal person.