Father finds human remains | Coffs Coast News | Local News in Coffs Coast

SES volunteers were brought in by police to assist in the search for missing body parts yesterday afternoon.

AN autopsy today on human remains found at a Dairyville Creek will hold vital clues to this macabre mystery.

A father and his three children had the fright of their life on Sunday around 4pm when they went swimming in the creek on a 42-hectare property, about 15km west of Coffs Harbour.

There to greet them was the lower half of a man’s body tangled in flood debris.

Police at this stage don’t know how the body got there, how it became dismembered or the identity of the man.

“At this stage police are treating the death as suspicious and we are following a number of lines of inquiry,” Coffs/Clarence crime manager, Detective Inspector Cameron Lindsay told The Coffs Coast Advocate at a press conference yesterday.

“The autopsy, scheduled to be held at Newcastle, may give us some indication as to the cause of death.

“We believe the body could have been there for a short period, possibly a couple of weeks.”

Superintendent Mark Holahan said the remains were from the waist down of a male body.

“Looking at the evidence we have available to us and because of the six to eight inches of rain that’s fallen in the past week in that catchment area, there’s a pretty good chance that the remains have washed to where they were found,” he said.

“Our priority at this stage obviously is to locate the remaining part of the body,” Mr Holahan added.

Investigators have no clues as to the identity or age of the dead man.

“It was in a state of decomposition,” Supt Holahan said.

Mr Holahan said he had not spoken with the man who discovered the remains but that he had been shocked by the find.

Police will expand their search area today which could include as far downstream as Karangi Dam and tributaries upstream of where the body was found.

“We are also reviewing reports of missing persons in the area,” Det Inspector Cameron Lindsay said. “We are speaking to people in the immediate area and are appealing to anyone who may have information surrounding the discovery to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”

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