The woman Melbourne forgot: Tragedy of Coolaroo murder victim whose body was dumped in a bin and nobody noticed – and no-one is mourning
The home of an elderly woman, who is believed to have been murdered and dumped in a wheelie bin, remains abandoned days after the tragic discovery.
Homicide detectives have established a crime scene at Coolaroo’s home, in Melbournein the north, on Saturday after her body was found in a garbage dump.
Detectives believe the woman’s remains were placed in a trash can that was picked up from the woman’s Hilgay Street home. Tuesday by a garbage truck.
On Monday, a detective was found alone entering the house through the front door.
About 10 minutes later, he was seen closing an open window at the front of the house before leaving.
Victoria Police declined to comment on the investigation on Monday, telling Daily Mail Australia that detectives were continuing to investigate the tragedy.
Apart from teams of media representatives, no one was seen visiting the premises on Monday.
There was also no one present to lay flowers, which is customary in similar tragedies.
On Monday, a detective attended the home in Coolaroo and was seen closing the front window, which had been left wide open to the elements.
A neighbour told Daily Mail Australia the community was still in shock after the suspected murder.
“We’ve never seen anything like this here. It’s just horrible,” the man said after stopping in his car to chat.
The scene outside the house was completely different from the community’s reaction to the death of Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani.
Ms Madhagani’s body was also found in a wheelie bin on Mount Pollock Road in Buckley, west of Geelong, on March 8.
Her death caused an outpouring of emotion in the community, with friends gathering to pay their respects in Point Cook, where she lived.
Coolaroo residents have mixed reports about the identity of the latest dumpster victim, with various sources estimating her age to be somewhere between late 40s and early 80s.
One man claimed that the woman had only lived on the estate for about two months.
The area is a stone’s throw from the working class Broadmeadows neighbourhood, while most of Hilgay Street is made up of social housing.
Detectives went to the home on Hilgay Street (pictured) on Saturday after a woman’s body was picked up by a garbage truck
The body of Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani was found in a bin in March
The bin in which the body of Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani was found
Other neighbors claimed to have seen a man’s car parked in the driveway of the murder house and a man taking out the trash in the days before the body was found.
One woman said she only spoke to the murdered woman about the day the bins were collected. None of her neighbours knew her name or anything about her.
The woman is the 48th woman to die in Australia this year, sparking anger among Australians across the country.
“Why doesn’t the government acknowledge the war on women in this country?” one angry woman wrote on social media.
“Call it what it is – domestic terrorism. Stop funding wars abroad and start addressing the enormous costs of violence against women.”
Another wrote: ‘You get more jail time for telling the truth than for killing your wife and family. It’s disgusting.’
Waste management workers found the body while moving green waste at the Cooper Street landfill in Epping on Wednesday
The woman has not yet been officially identified. Detectives are awaiting the results of an autopsy.
Police continue to search the area for CCTV footage and would like to speak to anyone who has CCTV or dashcam footage taken between Sunday 23 June and Tuesday 2 July.
Detectives would also like to get in touch with people who saw anything suspicious in the area around that time.
Responding to a tip in Epping on Cooper St, officers contacted police after finding the woman’s body. Detectives say the body was in a bin that had been picked up outside her home that day.
Detectives also inspected a stone house 100 meters down the street from where the victim lived.
It is believed that the owners of that house traveled abroad last month and have not yet returned.
On Saturday, officers were seen inspecting the lawn clippings of the house next to that property.
If you have any information about the incident in Coolaroo, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.