Australian authorities comb through garbage dump for missing teacher's body
The law enforcement agencies are combing through 3,000 tonnes of rubbish
A former Queensland teacher missing for over three weeks is thought to have been dumped in a bin outside her home. The authorities are now looking to comb through 3,000 tonnes of garbage at the Swanbank Renewable Energy and Waste Management Facility, west of Brisbane, to look for the body of 78-year-old Lesley Trotter.
Multiple police units were collaborating with Australian Defence Force to sift through the garbage which will be exhumed from the ground.
"There is sum of 3,000 tonne of general waste we have to sort through. The waste will be exhumed from the ground, tipped into lanes approximately 30 centimetres deep, and police and ADF personnel will sift through by hand and using rakes...in an attempted to find Ms Trotter's body," Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham informed the media.
The search operation is expected to take some time as the crew will be able to search through 200 tonnes of garbage per day only.
"We've been able to use certain technologies to pinpoint an area that we believe is most likely to yield Ms Trotter's body," added Massingham.
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Trotter goes missing
Trotter was last seen by her family on March 27 as the police initially treated her disappearance as a missing persons case. However, the agencies later received a tip, informing them Trotter's body was dumped in a wheelie bin and taken out by the garbage trucks as part of a weekly collection.
“Ongoing investigations can reveal that on the morning of Tuesday, the 28th of March this year, the body of a female we believe was Lesley Trotter was located in a general waste wheelie bin,” the police said in a statement at the time.
“It was evident she was deceased. Due to the positioning of the body, we can’t rule out foul play. Later that morning that bin was collected by a rubbish truck.”
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The police have also questioned the neighbours for any leads but so far have got nothing. However, some reports state that Trotter often sorted through wheelie binsin front of her residence and neighbouring properties in order to remove recycling from general waste bins.
The police have urged anyone who knew of Trotter's movementbetween March 27 and midday March 28 or her recycling habits to come forward and provide more information.
(With inputs from agencies)
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