Disappeared and Abducted Children and Young Adults > US and Australian missing children and child kidnapping cases.

Skeleton found in suitcase is child ‘murdered eight years ago’

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misty:
http://www.news.com.au/national/crime/who-was-the-child-murdered-and-dumped-in-a-suitcase-in-sa/story-fns0kb1g-1227445213766

DETECTIVES hunting the killer of a small child in South Australia are checking cases of missing kids throughout the country, including toddler William Tyrrell.
The child’s body was found on Wednesday just off the Karoonda Highway, 2km west of Wynarka, and 120km southeast from Adelaide.
The suitcase was open with its contents — including the body — found nearby.
An initial check of the missing persons list in South Australia showed there was no child of a similar age missing there, suggesting the child could have come from interstate.
Detectives have begun checking missing child cases elsewhere, including that of NSW toddler William Tyrrell, although there is nothing to suggest yet that it could be the three-year-old, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Major Crime Investigation Branch officer-in-charge Detective Superintendent Des Bray said William was one of many Australian missing children cases being examined for possible leads.
The child’s skeletal remains have been taking to Adelaide for a post-mortem which police hope will reveal more clues as to it’s identity and what killed them — although police are treating the case as murder.
It’s thought the child was aged between two and seven.
Det Supt Bray said: “We can say that we believe the child died elsewhere. We also believe that the child was placed in a suitcase and brought to this location within about a month but the child had even died some time prior to that.”
Two women have told police they saw a clean cut man carrying a suitcase only 2km away from where the body was found.
The man was said to be in his 60s and neatly dressed. It fits the time frame police believe the dark grey suitcase was dumped.
Police have begun a massive search for evidence using forensic experts, local police, volunteers and a drone.
“It (the dark grey suitcase) was right in the open and easily available to be seen,” Det Supt Bray told the Adelaide Advertiser yesterday.
“From investigations we’ve made and from information received from people who have stopped and been able to assist, we now know that suitcase was placed there within the last four to six weeks.”
The person who found it was “drawn to something” on the side of the road looked inside the suitcase and found the remains among the clothes.
“It’s hard to say what happened and why but somebody has found the suitcase, opened it to have a look what’s in there and tipped out the contents and discovered the human remains,” Det-Supt Bray said.
He appealed for anyone with information on the case to come forward.
“Somebody must have knowledge of someone who has a young child and that child has disappeared and is not around,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.
===================================================

31

Admin:
Skeleton found in suitcase is child ‘murdered eight years ago’



24 July 2015

The girl had fair hair and was aged between two to four when she died, police said.


SKELETAL REMAINS FOUND in a suitcase near a highway are likely a young girl who may have been killed up to eight years ago, Australian police have said, as they struggle to solve the mystery murder.

Detectives called for help from the public a week after the bones were discovered by a passer-by in bushland close to Wynarka, a small town about 130 kilometres southeast of Adelaide.

The girl’s identity is not known and a man aged about 60, seen carrying a suitcase in the area some weeks ago, is being sought by police, Detective Superintendent Des Bray said.

The girl had fair hair and was aged between two to four when she died, Bray said. He added:

    "For reasons I’m not going to disclose we are confident that this child was murdered."

Bray said the girl could have died some years ago as the clothing she was found with, including a black tutu, a pink shoe, a Dora the Explorer purple top and red sports shorts, dated as far back at 2007.

Although police had contacted all missing persons units and homicide squads across the vast country, there was no-one they had a “strong focus on”.

Investigators also did not know where the girl died, but believe she was “killed elsewhere and her remains put into the suitcase and shifted in relatively recent times”, Bray added.

Police said the black suitcase, which had faded to grey by the time it was found, was left behind a bush, and at “some stage” the remains were tipped out and the bag placed in full view of the road. Bray is appealing to the public:

        "We want people to think back into the past, back to 2007 and the years in between, think
        about little girls  like this — who lived near them, played near them, they may be related
        to — and think about where those children are now."

http://www.thejournal.ie/child-skeleton-suitcase-australia-2233987-Jul2015/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3173056/Mystery-man-spotted-suitcase-carrying-skeletal-remains-little-girl-dumped-highway-police-release-mannequin-showing-looked-like.html

mercury:
Sick people who would murder a child and stuff them n a suitcase! How sad and tragic.  Life snuffed out before it's had a chance. It is very sad they don,t know who it is. A quick search in Interpol missing persons shows one mssing girl  aged 2 when gone missing in 2008 though in Russia with Australian nationality.Surely they will have checked all that  though.Hope they solve it.Could be anyone. Fact they dont know is ominous as well.

http://www.interpol.int/notice/search/missing/2014-39763

John:

--- Quote from: mercury on July 27, 2015, 02:24:49 AM ---Sick people who would murder a child and stuff them n a suitcase! How sad and tragic.  Life snuffed out before it's had a chance. It is very sad they don,t know who it is. A quick search in Interpol missing persons shows one mssing girl  aged 2 when gone missing in 2008 though in Russia with Australian nationality.Surely they will have checked all that  though.Hope they solve it.Could be anyone. Fact they dont know is ominous as well.

http://www.interpol.int/notice/search/missing/2014-39763

--- End quote ---

The finding of this little girls remains by a road near Wynarka, South Australia, some 72 miles from Adelaide is bizarre for many reasons not least of which being the similarities to the Madeleine McCann case.  A young fair haired girl between 3 and 4 years of age apparently deceased around April/May 2007.

What really amazes me however is that after only eight years nobody has immediately laid claim to this child?

John:
Wynarka child murder: Top cop dismisses Madeleine McCann speculation as distinctive fabric found with remains identified

The Advertiser
27 July 2015


* New clue: Distinctive quilt found with remains in suitcase
* Police believe remains in suitcase was a little girl
* Post-mortem confirms child met a violent and terrible end
* Madeleine McCann: The evidence and the theories

POLICE Commissioner Grant Stevens has dismissed speculation that a murdered child found by the side of an SA highway could be the world’s most high-profile missing girl, Madeleine McCann.

Mr Stevens today told a parliamentary estimates committee hearing that “clearly we’re looking at tragic circumstances here”.

“There is absolutely no evidence at this point in time that the child is Madeleine McCann … to suggest something like that at this point in time would purely be speculating to get attention,” he said.

“We are focusing our inquiries on South Australia but we would be considering any potential missing child. Until we ascertain the identity of the child we need to be open to all possibilities.”



Missing since 2007 — English girl Madeleine McCann was snatched from a Portuguese holiday resort. The picture at right is an age-advanced estimation of how she could have looked several years after her disappearance.



Detective Superintendent Des Bray updates media on Wynarka bones investigation.

Earlier, police said fabric used to make a distinctive homemade quilt found with the remains was manufactured in New York about seven years ago.

Major Crime officer in charge Detective Superintendent Des Bray said police wanted to trace the origins of the quilt in a bid to find out how it came to be on the side of the Karoonda Hwy, near Wynarka, in the Murray Mallee.

They have released digital images that identify seven of the quilt’s 25 octagonal patches, which were sown into the quilt. Police hope someone will recognise the quilt.

It was found alongside the remains of what police say was a little girl, aged between two and four when she was violently killed.



The quilt, left, found in the suitcase, with the digital image, left, released by the police today that shows seven patches identified.

Her skeletal remains had been dumped in a suitcase next to the highway up to four months ago.

But her bones had been tipped out of the suitcase when discovered by a passing motorist on July 15.

Det-Supt Bray said it was “more likely than not” that the little girl was never reported missing to authorities.

“It would be impossible to believe that someone didn’t love this little girl,” he said.

“It’s hard to believe someone hasn’t missed her.

“I thought when we started this job that we would quickly identify who this little girl was. “Somewhere out there is a mother, a father, at the very least an extended family that obviously lived near someone and I’m at a loss as to why someone hasn’t reported this little girl."



Detective Superintendent Des Bray with a photo of the musical note fabric used to make a quilt found with child’s remains. Picture: Campbell Brodie.


Det-Supt Bray said the distinctiveness of some of the items, including the quilt and a black tutu, found with the remains would help solve the mystery.

He said police believed some of the quilt fabric — coloured musical notes — was manufactured in New York in about 2008.

“The quilt is really important to the investigation,” he said.

“If we can find out who that quilt was given to or whether it ended up in an op-shop that will take us back to a geographical area.”



The quilt that was handmade specifically for a young child. Picture: SA Police


He said the quilt was homemade using a sewing machine and a polyester material was used to line its inside, which indicated it was made for a child.

Previously, police said the labels, decomposition of fabric and staining of clothes found with the remains indicated she was killed some time after 2007.

It was also likely she had fair hair and was 90-95cm tall when she was killed, police said.

Det-Supt Bray said the little girl was killed in a violent manner.

“We’re certain of how the little girl met her death — why, who and what circumstances, it’s just impossible to tell,” he said.



A mannequin with hair of a similar colour and length, dressed in new versions of items of clothing found with the body, along with suitcase found at the scene.



“It could fit any scenario.”

He said 55 calls had been made to Crime Stoppers about the quilt since police released its image to the Sunday Mail.

“We’ve had about 280 Crime Stopper calls being received in South Australia and across the country,” he said.

“I guess in terms of recent cases that’s unprecedented the number of calls we’re getting.”

Anyone with information about the murder is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/wynarka-child-murder-top-cop-dismisses-madeleine-mccann-speculation-as-distinctive-fabric-found-with-remains-identified/story-fni6uo1m-1227457660344

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