Child’s body in case
Grisly find by the road
A CLEAN-cut man seen carrying a suitcase just 2km from where the remains of a young child were found in South Australia may hold vital clues to the investigation.
Two women have told police they saw the man — aged in his 60s, neatly dressed and with a clean-cut appearance — carrying a darkcoloured suitcase at Wynarka about six weeks ago.
It matches the time frame police believe a dark grey suitcase containing the remains of the child and clothing was dumped just off the Karoonda Highway, 2km west of Wynarka, sometime in the past two months.
The suitcase was found by a motorist on Tuesday and reported to police yesterday.
Detectives are treating the death of the child, aged between two and seven, as a murder and co-ordinated a large search at the scene for evidence yesterday.
Major Crime Investigation Branch officer in charge, detective Superintendent Des Bray, said the remains of the child were brought to the area in the suitcase and dumped about 2m off the highway. The passing motorist, who made the discovery on Tuesday, had been “drawn to something on the side of the road” but did not report it to police until yesterday morning.
Supt Bray said the person had looked inside the suitcase and found the remains, which were taken to Adelaide for a post-mortem examination.
A preliminary review of national missing persons lists found no details of missing children of a similar age in South Australia, raising the possibility he or she may be from interstate.
Supt Bray said that there was no suggestion the remains were those of missing NSW boy, William Tyrell.