Homicide detectives have set up a crime scene at a home following the discovery of a woman’s body at a rubbish tip.
Detectives believe the woman’s remains were put inside a bin that was picked up from a Coolaroo property, in Melbourne‘s north, by a garbage truck on Tuesday.
Waste management staff then located the body while moving green waste at the Cooper Street tip in Epping on Wednesday.
A single-storey brick home on Hilgay Street, in Coolaroo, was cordoned off by forensic crews and detectives on Saturday.
Recycling and rubbish bins belonging to the property were raided while items on blue tarps were also examined by detectives, the Herald Sun reported.
Neighbours who were interviewed by detectives said an elderly woman lived at the property and that she had only moved in weeks ago.
A post-mortem is currently underway to formally identify the woman.
Detectives also inspected a brick home 100 metres down the street. The owners of that home have been overseas since last month.
A house has been cordoned off on Hilgay Street in Coolaroo, Melbourne, after a woman’s body was picked up by a garbage truck from the suburb
‘A significant CCTV canvass of the Coolaroo area is under way and police are keen to speak to anyone who may have CCTV or dashcam footage, particularly between Sunday June 23 and Tuesday July 2,’ a police statement read.
‘Detectives are also keen to speak to anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity in the area around that time.’
Officers also inspected grass clippings from the home next door.
Waste management staff located the body while moving green waste at the Cooper Street tip in Epping on Wednesday
A woman living next door to the house examined by police, Beatriz Betancur, said the only conversation she’d had with her neighbour was about what day the bins went out.
‘That’s the only thing we talked about, but she was a normal lady,’ Ms Betancur told the publication.
‘I didn’t see anyone, I think she lived alone.
‘It’s terrible, it’s scary. This street is very safe, very quiet, most of these people are old people, like me.’
Police have not confirmed if the house cordoned off was where the bin had been collected from.
The woman’s cause of death is yet to be confirmed.
