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WOMAN'S BODY FOUND.
RABBIT TRAPPER'S GRUE-
SOME DISCOVERY.
DUMPED IN PADDOCK AT
LANGWARRIN.
CRIME APPARENTLY SOME
MONTHS OLD.
A gruesome discovery was made about
4.30 p.m. yesterday by Edward Grose, a
rabbit trapper, who lives in Boundary-
road, Langwarrin.
Grose was out setting traps for his night
catch, and picked as one of his sets a
corner of the home farm of Mr. Keith
Murdoch at the corner of Boundary and
North roads. As he was preparing to
set his trap Grose's attention was at-
tracted by the overpowering stench which
came from a hessian bundle lying about 4
feet inside the fence close to a freshly-
felled pine tree. A cursory examination
of the bundle gave Grose a glimpse of a
nude human foot, and without investigat-
ing further, he rang the Frankston police.
Senior Constable Elliott, of Frankston,
hurried to Langwarrin, which is 4 miles
from the Frankston police station, and
at once removed the bundle to the City
Morgue. An examination there showed
that it contained the badly decomposed
body of a woman. With the exception
of a chemise and a heavy woollen jumper
the body was unclothed, and death had
apparently taken place some four or five
months ago. It was impossible to form
any theory as to the cause of death, or to
hasard a guess as to the unfortunate
woman's age or description.
The body, which was in a huddled posi-
tion and partly clothed as stated, was
wrapped in a blanket fastened with safety
pins and then wrapped in a piece of hes-
sian similarly fastened. The hair had
apparently been dark brown, and the jaw
had a full upper set of natural teeth,
rather prominent.
Dr. Mollison will examine the remains
at 9.30 a.m. to-day, and may be able to
give some idea of the approximate date
of the death and cause.
The partly-clothed condition of the body
and other indications suggest to police
that the unfortunate woman met her
death through criminal interference. Her
identification will prove a difficult
problem.
The spot where the body was found is
the extreme south-west corner of Mr.
Keith Murdoch's home farm area at the
junction of Boundary and North roads.
Both these roads at this spot run through
a deep embankment, and from North-road
a passer-by could look down on the spot
where the body was found.
Within the past few days a quantity
of scrub, about 8 feet high, along North-
road has been cut, and whoever did this
clearing also felled a young pine tree
inside Mr. Murdoch's boundary only six
feet from the body. The clearing was
apparently done with the intention of
giving a clear view for traffic crossing
the intersection.
The police have not yet ascertained who
did the clearing, and Mr. William Duell,
Mr. Murdoch's manager, who lives at the
home farm, told the police last night that
the pine tree had been felled without his
knowledge or authority.
At first sight it seemed extraordinary
that whoever did the clearing was not
attracted by the offensive odor emanating
from the bundle, but it is explained by
Senior Constable Elliott that there has
been recently considerable trouble in the
vicinity owing to the practice of some per-
son dumping fish offal in and around
Frankston and Langwarrin. In several
recent cases the Frankston and Cran-
bourne councils have had to have heaps
of such refuse buried at their expense.
It is therefore thought probably that re-
sidents aware of these circumstances
would lack sufficient curiosity to examine
the bundle.
Detective Sergeant McKerral and Senior
Detective Lambell have been detailed to
conduct the investigation, but until Dr.
Mollison has examined the remains they
are at a loss for a starting point for their
inquiries. The condition of the ground
where the body was found clearly indi-
cates that it had lain there for some
months. As far as could be ascertained
last night there were no marks of iden-
tity on the two garments the body was
wearing, nor did the fingers have any
rings on them. There was no distinguish-
ing mark on either the blanket or the
hessian.
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