Autopsy hopes to unearth answers

FORENSIC experts are edging closer to finding out the identity of skeletal remains found at the Burdekin River, with police saying the major investigations are complete.

A Queensland Police spokesman said an autopsy had been carried out on the bones which were found in a tent on the banks of the river near Eight Miles Creek on August 8.

He said the autopsy consisted of forensic examinations to establish the identity of the remains, but would not reveal if police knew an age, gender or formal identity.

The bones, found by two fishermen, were flown to Brisbane last week for the identification process to begin.

James Cook University associate professor and biological anthropologist Kate Domett said forensic experts would be able to tell a gender, and possible age, from just one look at the bones.

Speculation has swirled about the identity of the remains as multiple missing persons cases are still outstanding in North Queensland.

One of these missing people includes Laurence Sim, who disappeared in 2015.

The experienced bushman and alleged crop sitter was last seen leaving his brother’s Wulguru home on New Year’s Eve.

His brother, the last person to see the 62-year-old, told police Laurence hopped into a car that was idling at the front of his home and drove off. He has not been seen since. The case was baffling from the start, with police not receiving a missing persons report from the family until eight months after Mr Sim got into that car in Wulguru.

Police scoured properties across Townsville and North Queensland in the search for him. Police did not comment on the status of the missing person investigation, and did not speculate the remains could be Mr Sim.