National

Roadside remains found in suitcase not human

By Melissa Meehan and Allanah Sciberras

Aug 10, 2026

A forensic investigation — Police have confirmed remains discovered in a suitcase are not human. -PR IMAGE

Remains found inside a discarded suitcase by the side of a regional road do not belong to a woman as first thought.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

A major NSW Police operation kicked into gear on Sunday, when a suitcase with decomposed remains inside was found by two members of the public at Oallen, about 60km southeast of Goulburn, just before 1pm.

Superintendent Linda Bradbury initially said it was unclear how long the body had been there and police would try to link the body with any missing persons cases.

Police said on Monday morning they believed the remains were those of a woman but Supt Bradbury later announced forensic investigations had ruled out that the remains belonging to a human.Â

"We are still undertaking more forensic work to identify what they are, but we can identify that they are not human," she told reporters in Goulburn.

"They were mistaken for a human originally, so they are very realistic in the term of looking like human remains ... but we have confirmed they are not."

The discovery was made by two men who had pulled onto the side of the road by chance, Supt Bradbury said.

"They were able to tell us how they came across it," she added.

"Unfortunately they were on a weekend drive as a lot of people do over the weekend and stopped for a break."

Oallen in the Southern Tablelands region of NSW, is about 109km northeast of Canberra and 225km southwest of Sydney.