Police have mistaken a sex doll dumped in remote NSW bushland for decomposed human remains, sparking a murder probe.
Two men stumbled across what was originally described as a suitcase while on a scenic weekend drive along Wolgon Road in Oallen, about 60 kilometres south of Goulburn, at 12.50pm on Sunday.
The discovery initially sparked fears the suitcase contained human remains, believed to be those of a woman.
However, police made a stunning admission at a press conference on Monday morning that the contents were not human remains.
'Following forensic examinations, this morning, police confirmed the item located in the bag was a life like doll, wearing clothing, with hair and a nose piercing,' a police statement later read.
'The item also had markings that resembled bruises and grazes.'
The dramatic development came after officers established a crime scene and seized the suitcase for forensic examination.
Detectives had even set up a strike force with assistance from the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad and spent much of Sunday night examining the scene in bad weather.
Police have revealed a suitcase discovered in remote bushland did not contain human remains
A lifelike sex doll was mistaken for human remains
Superintendent Linda Bradbury made the stunning admission at Monday's media conference
'We are still undertaking more forensic work to identify what they are. But we can identify that they're not human,' NSW Police Superintendent Linda Bradbury said.
'We don't have a suspicious death of a human on our hands.'
She insisted that the two men who raised the alarm did the right thing in contacting authorities.
'They had come across the suitcase and opened it, had a look inside and thought that it was something suspicious and gave us a call straight away,' Supt Bradbury said.
'They are very realistic in the terms of looking like human remains, but we've confirmed by other means that they are not.
'We had our forensics team turn up and police officers look at the remains as well. Of course, we don't like to disturb them too much in that situation.
'The idea is to maintain their integrity. We've been able to collect the remains and take them for forensic investigation to determine that they are not human.
A separate investigation will be launched, including reports of a silver car that was spotted driving in the area on Sunday.
Detectives returned to the crime scene on Monday to canvass the road and surrounding bushland for any further evidence to assist with the investigation.
Officers remained at Oallen well into Sunday night and returned to the scene on Monday
'We will still continue our inquiries to see how this came about and see what we can find out from the remains or the object there,' Supt Bradbury said.
She had no regrets on how the investigation has been handled, despite making multiple television appearances earlier on Monday to speak about the 'murder' probe.
'NSW Police have undertaken the processes that we do to maintain the integrity of a crime scene to a T and I do commend our officers for that,' Supt Bradbury said.
'We don't necessarily like to disturb any crime scenes because that's our links to make sure that offenders are brought before the court.
'So we followed our processes to a T to a high level, and I think that it is no regrets at all.
'I actually couldn't be more proud of my team.'
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