NSW: Body found in bin may be missing man, police

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-1998
NSW: Body found in bin may be missing man, police

SYDNEY, Dec 8 AAP - Police believe a headless body found in a bin on a river bank north
west of Sydney ten days ago may be that of missing man Peter Graeme Astill.

Detective Sergeant Steve Cook from Windsor police said Mr Astills sister-in-law had told
police the 35-year-old man from Kandos, in the states central west, had been missing since
August.

"His sister-in-law contacted us through crime stoppers and she said that Peter had similar
tattoos," Sgt Cook said.

Sgt Cook said the body had a faded rose tattoo on the upper left arm and a crude barbed
wire tattoo on the upper right arm.

It was found, with the head and arms cut off, in a bin on the banks of the Colo River on
November 29.

Sgt Cook said that while police were waiting on DNA tests to positively identify the body,
it was believed to be that of Mr Astill.

Mr Astill, a single man who lived alone, was last seen alive in Kandos on August 9, Sgt
Cook said.

The results of DNA tests on blood samples taken from Mr Astills mother, who reported her
son missing, would be available in about three weeks, Sgt Cook said.

The head and hands had not been found, but police were investigating reports some school
children had seen a hand floating down the river at about the same time police believe the bin
was in the water, he said.

Police believed the killer was known to the victim and may have cut off the bodys hands
and head to make identification difficult and therefore delay the police investigation, Sgt
Cook said.

He said police had strong leads in the case.

"The main point was to find out who he was, then we may be able to find out why and when,"
he said.

"... We have some suspects ... weve just got to tie all the scientific evidence in."

About three weeks prior to the discovery of the body, a commercial fisherman saw the green
bin floating in the river and pushed it to the bank.

A property owner on a picnic with his family, raised the alarm when he found the
green-coloured container, sealed with screws and silicon and emitting a foul smell, lying on
the banks of the river.

Officers prised it open to make the grisly find - a decomposing human corpse wrapped in a
blanket and tied with electrical chord.

Special Strike Force Mascali, formed to investigate the case, were baffled about a motive.

A post mortem examination determined the body was that of a man 178 centimetres tall,
obese, aged between 20 and 40 years, and with dark brown hair.

Police have appealed for anyone who has information about Mr Astills last whereabouts to
contact Crime Stoppers.

AAP rat/sb/it

KEYWORD: BIN (CARRIED EARLIER)

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