Homicide detectives confirmed last night they were investigating links between Mr Quire's murder and the vicious attack on him and a woman at Farley just before Christmas in 2008.

Strike Force Beamish detectives now believe Mr Quire was shot dead on the weekend of this year's Maitland Show - either on February 20 or 21 - and have appealed for information from the public.

Bushwalkers and their dog found the Rutherford man's decomposing remains in a shallow grave in an almost inaccessible part of the Watagans on March 13 this year.

An autopsy later found he had been shot once with a shotgun.

The head of Strike Force Beamish, Detective Inspector Mark Newham, confirmed to the Herald last night that they were looking at possible connections between the Farley shooting in 2008 and Mr Quire's murder 14 months later.

"We have obviously looked at the possibility that both are connected and have not discounted that theory," Detective Inspector Newham said.

Mr Quire was shot in the face and his partner dragged into a car at gunpoint during an abduction attempt at Farley on December 23, 2008.

He had been shot with a small calibre firearm, probably a handgun, and had survived the attack despite the bullet remaining in his skull.

Mr Quire had been walking along a Farley road late on December 23 when a man wearing a balaclava, dark sunglasses, black gloves and black clothing jumped out of a four-wheel-drive and shot him.

His partner, 25, was thrown into the four-wheel-drive but released a short distance away.

Detective Inspector Newham said there was not a clear motive for either the 2008 attack or the murder.

No one was charged with the Farley shooting.

Strike Force Beamish comprises detectives from the State Crime Command's homicide squad and investigators from the Central Hunter and Lake Macquarie local area commands.