Australia: Police Initially Believed a Woman's Body Was in the Suitcase But Forensics Later Showed It Was Not Human

On Sunday afternoon, two men reported finding a body in a suitcase on the side of a road near the small village of Oallen, about 230km (143 miles) south-west of Sydney. On Monday, police announced a murder investigation, sparking intense interest in the case but hours later, authorities backtracked, saying forensic testing had proved the contents were not human. Instead, the item was a "lifelike doll, wearing clothing, with hair and a nose piercing, police said, and "the item also had markings that resembled bruises and grazes.

The contents in the suitcase were "mistaken for a human originally, so they are very realistic in terms of looking like human remains, said Supt Linda Bradbury from the Hume Police District. "But we've confirmed by other means that they are not.