Two trail bike riders made a grim discovery at Terragon on Monday, finding a body submerged in a stock dip on a remote property off Kyogle Road. Police are treating the death as suspicious.
The riders were on a track through the property, about 20 kilometres south-west of Murwillumbah, when they found the body at about 11:20am on Monday, 5 October.
Police said the body was in a tank used to treat livestock for ticks and other parasites. It was 300 metres off the road, down an overgrown track, on Crown land.
The riders found it by chance, said Tweed/Byron Police District Crime Manager Detective Inspector Matt Zimmer.
“They stopped in at the stock dip and looked in at what they believed was a body,” he said.
“They contacted emergency services, police and ambulances attended a short time later and we were able to confirm it was a body.”
A crime scene was set up at the property overnight. Detectives and specialist forensic police examined the scene and the body, and police spoke to neighbours and took a number of statements.
Police believe the body is a woman, but decomposition means they cannot identify her.
“The body is believed to be that of a female, but due to the state of decomposition of that body I am unable to provide any further details,” Inspector Zimmer said.
“Due to the location of the body, the remoteness of the area the absence of a vehicle or any other mode of transport, we are treating this death as suspicious.”
Inspector Zimmer said he could not determine how long the body had been there. A full post-mortem examination is set for this week to establish her identity and cause of death.
Police are checking the missing persons registers in both NSW and Queensland.
“The body was in quite an advanced state of decomposition,” he said.
“At this time we’re unable to establish any link between the body and any missing person.”
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