Man arrested after woman’s body found at rubbish tip
Police will question a man being held after a woman's body was found at a waste management facility. Photo: AAP
A man has been arrested and will be interviewed by police over the discovery of a woman’s body at a tip in Melbourne’s north last week.
Workers found the woman while moving green waste at a facility in Epping on Wednesday but investigators believe her body was originally inside a domestic bin that was picked up outside a property in a nearby suburb on Tuesday.
Victoria police identified the street as Hilgay Street in Coolaroo, which has rubbish collected on Tuesday.
Forensic detectives and uniformed offers were seen at a house on Hilgay Street surrounded by police tape on Saturday, when the discovery was made public.
The woman, who is still yet to be formally identified, is believed to be a 67-year-old from Coolaroo and police are investigating the circumstances surrounding her death.
Homicide squad detectives arrested a 45-year-old Coolaroo man at Glenroy on Tuesday morning with no charges laid ahead of a police interview.
It’s believed the pair were known to each other but police haven’t released any identifying information.
Anyone who saw suspicious behaviour in Coolaroo from June 23 to July 2 has been asked to come forward.
Detectives are looking at CCTV and dashcam footage taken from the area during that time and want to speak to anyone with relevant vision.
The discovery marks at least the third time a woman’s remains were found in a bin or tip in Victoria in recent years.
In March, the remains of 35-year-old Point Cook woman Chaithanya “Swetha” Madhagani were discovered in Buckley, southwest of Geelong.
Footage from the area showed detectives near a wheelie bin in bushes on the side of Mount Pollock Road.
At the time, Victoria police said they wanted to speak to Madhagani’s husband who fled to overseas.
Madhagani’s loved ones launched an online fundraiser to help her family members in India with mounting costs and to donate money to her child.
The discovery of the Coolaroo woman’s body came just over three years since remains of mother Ju ‘Kelly’ Zhang were found at a landfill in Wollert, which is just a few kilometres away from the Epping tip.
In 2023 Zhang’s boyfriend Joon Seong Tan was found guilty of stabbing her in her bedroom in 2021 and dumping her body in a wheelie bin.
He is serving up to 28 years behind bars over the murder.
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– AAP
