SYDNEY, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Australian police have ended a homicide investigation that began with two members of the public on a Sunday drive finding a dumped suitcase on the side of the road in a remote town, opening it up and finding what appeared to be remains of a human body.
Instead, forensic examinations later determined that “the item located in the bag was a lifelike doll, wearing clothing, with hair and a nose piercing,” police said in a statement on Monday.
“The item also had markings that resembled bruises and grazes,” it said.
Called to Oallen, a town about 200 km (125 miles) south-west of Sydney, police officers established a crime scene but did not examine the contents too closely.
Superintendent Linda Bradbury told reporters that police “don’t like to disturb remains too much in situ, particularly when we have faced inclement weather, as we did yesterday and again today.”
The item was “very realistic in terms of looking like human remains,” she added.
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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