By TANIA PHILLIPS
Pics: Images of the bag in which the body was found, material design, underwear design and the location.
TUMBULGUM’S “body in the bag” mystery is widening with police making an Australia-wide appeal for information in an effort to identify the man whose decomposed body was found in a cotton fibre style bag in the Tweed River last year.
Tweed Police are hoping the “unique bag” will help them finally indentify the body found on the riverbank at Tumbulgum at about 7pm on Saturday 24 November last year.
Despite extensive appeals, the man has yet to be identified.
Tweed Byron Local Area Command Crime Manager Detective Inspector Brendon Cullen said the bag had a “tweed” pattern and was quite distinctive.
“It is a unique bag – not something that you could go into a shop and buy,” he said.
“It looks purpose-made to sleep in – someone must have made it.
“A post mortem examination established that man was Caucasian, aged between 50 to 70 years. He was 163cm tall, thin build and had grey hair tied in a ponytail with a blue band. He may have worn dentures.
However the post mortem was unable to determine the cause of the man’s death and checks of missing persons databases have failed to identify him leading detectives to widen the search.
Strike Force Tukara was formed to investigate the man’s death and comprises detectives from Tweed/Byron Local Area Command.
Det Insp Cullen said police believed the cotton bag in which the body was foundcould offer clues to his identity.
He said the bag was approximately 60cm x 165cm and was made of plaid Indian cotton. The material is blue and off-white cheque and may have been hand-made. The man was also wearing a pair of orange and blue underpants.
Anyone with information about the investigation is asked to contact Tweed Heads Police on (07) 5536 0999, Murwillumbah Police on (02) 6672 9499 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
