Police will launch extradition proceedings on Tuesday against the man wanted for questioning over the murder of French student Sophie Collombet.
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Benjamin James Milward, 25, was arrested in Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales shortly before 3pm on Monday.
On Monday night, Brisbane homicide detectives were en route to Coffs Harbour, where Mr Milward was held in custody at the local police station.
Mr Milward was arrested while walking along a footpath near a shopping centre on Harbour Drive in the centre of the beachside town.
The 25-year-old is due to face court on Tuesday morning, where police will apply to extradite him to Queensland.
A nation-wide alert was issued for Mr Milward last Friday afternoon, a week after Ms Collombet's naked and bloodied body was found in a rotunda at Kurilpa Park in South Brisbane.
It is believed police will allege physical evidence links Mr Milward to the murder.
Police believe Ms Collombet was bashed to death on Thursday, March 27, while walking from the Cultural Centre bus station at South Bank to her CBD apartment on Quay Street.
She had attended an evening tutorial at Griffith University’s Nathan campus, before heading home.
The 21-year-old was last captured by CCTV cameras walking on a riverside boardwalk past the Kurilpa Bridge at 8.57pm.
Mr Milward was spotted on CCTV footage in and around the Kuripla Park area on the same night.
He was last seen at Bowen Hills train station at 11.35pm, after catching a train from South Brisbane.
Earlier that day, Mr Milward was captured by security cameras at the Melbourne Hotel in South Brisbane.
Mr Milward’s arrest came as a relief for his family in Ipswich, west of Brisbane.
‘‘We are relieved that he’s OK and he’s been found,’’ his aunt Tere Douglas told Fairfax Media.
Ms Douglas said she didn’t know why her nephew was in Coffs Harbour and said the family had no links to the area.
She said the naming of her nephew as a person of interest in the case had taken its toll on the family, especially on Mr Milward’s mother Diane.
‘‘It’s really hard ... I know it must be hard and heartbreaking for [the Collombet family]. Whatever they are feeling, we are feeling that here too,” Ms Douglas said.
With Mr Milward now in custody, Ms Douglas said the family would stick by him “for better and for worse”.
Ms Collombet arrived in Brisbane in February last year to study international business at Griffith University.
Her friend Roselyne Trott told Fairfax Media that Ms Collombet's boyfriend Boris returned to France when his visa expired in February.
Ms Collombet was planning to join him in June.
‘‘She was very friendly, always happy,’’ Ms Trott said.
‘‘She was very dedicated to what she was doing and she spent more time studying than anything else.’’
