Police believe a Sydney woman whose body was found in a fridge may have been the victim of a murder-suicide, after discovering a link between her and a man who died in a motorbike crash on Saturday.
Uniformed police officers went to a unit on Sunday about 3.40pm (AEDT) at Chatswood, in Sydney's north, to inform a 48-year-old woman, believed to be midwife Denise Suplina, about a fatal motorcycle accident in Bathurst the day before.
When no one answered they forced their way in and found a body in a refrigerator in such a state that the officers have been offered counselling.
"Seeing a deceased person in the state they did is extremely difficult," Chatswood local area commander Peter Yeomans told reporters in Sydney on Monday.
"The state in which the deceased was found is going to take a little while before we can actually identify the victim herself."
Detective Inspector Yeomans dismissed suggestions the body had been cut up and packed in a freezer.
"I will say there is nothing to suggest that the body was found, in your terms, `in pieces'," Detective Inspector Yeomans told reporters.
He also said police had seized a number of items from the unit and believed one of those objects might have been used to murder the occupant.
The police officers first on the scene were attempting to inform Ms Suplina that a 52-year-old man had collided head on with a semi-trailer on Saturday about 6pm (AEDT) on the Great Western Highway near Bathurst.
The rider was very badly burnt, delaying his formal identification.
"It may be the case that that was a possible suicide," Det Insp Yeomans said.
"The person in the motorcycle accident ... hasn't been positively identified because of the horrific nature of the accident. So at this stage we have still got two persons that are unidentified."
Police would not reveal if the man and Ms Suplina were flatmates or in a relationship, but said neither of them were known to police.
There have been no reports of disturbances at the unit and Ms Suplina's time of death has yet to be determined.
A police spokeswoman said detectives were investigating if the deaths were a murder-suicide.
"It looks that way," she told AAP.
Detectives are speaking to Ms Suplina's family, seeking any clues to explain the chain of events.
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78
Front page
RSS Feed