Chief Inspector John Sheehan of Batemans Bay Police Station leads the search for the missing ACT snorkeller in January 2021. Photo: Surf Life Saving Far South Coast.
NSW Police are trying to identify whether new human remains discovered on a South Coast beach belong to a missing snorkeller from Canberra.
Part of a human torso was found on Mollymook Beach on Friday, 26 February, five days after a running shoe containing human remains was also discovered further down the coast on Bournda Beach in the Bega Valley.
Police quickly determined that the remains inside the shoe belonged to missing Sydney woman Melissa Caddick.
The 49-year-old disappeared a day after her $7 million Dover Heights home was raided on the evening of 11 November, 2020, by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
However, NSW Police are yet to identify whether the torso is also linked to Ms Caddick.
Chief Inspector John Sheehan of Batemans Bay Police Station said the new remains had been sent away for forensic examination and detectives are expecting results later this week.
Police have identified the human remains found near Bega on 21 February as Sydney woman Melissa Caddick. Photo: File.
He said he couldn’t discount that the torso didn’t belong to the missing snorkeller, however unlikely.
Inspector Sheehan led the search for the 39-year-old father of three, which began on 25 January, 2021.
The ACT man was on a spearfishing day trip with friends and his two children when he went missing at Richmond Beach.
His two children were playing nearby on the beach at Murramarang National Park, near Batemans Bay, while his pregnant wife remained at home.
The man last entered the water carrying a knife and wearing a snorkel, wetsuit, goggles and aqua shoes.
Members of the South Coast Police District, Surf Life Saving NSW, Marine Rescue NSW, Eurobodalla Shire Council lifeguards and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter searched the beaches and water between Richmond Beach and Malua Bay for two weeks after the man’s disappearance.
However, with no evidence found, police suspended the search and suspected the snorkeller’s body had floated further south.
However, Mollymook Beach, where the torso was found, is north of Richmond Beach.
But Inspector Sheehan said police hope to find anything that provides the snorkeller’s family with closure.
He said it was possible the search for Ms Caddick’s remains could find new evidence that would bring to light what happened to the ACT man in January.
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