In the desperate ‘needle in a haystack’ search for the body of a retired teacher after she was shoveled up by a garbage truck and dumped at a landfill
- Police find clue in search for missing woman Lesley Trotter
- Agents sift through tons of trash to find the remains
- Mrs. Trotter’s body was said to have been dumped in the bin
Police have made a breakthrough as they continue to sift through thousands of tons of trash in the search for the body of missing woman Lesley Trotter.
Agents from the Homicide, Crime Scene, Disaster Victim Identification Squad have spent seven days searching the Swanbank rubbish dump for the remains of Mrs. Trotter.
She has been missing for nearly a month and her family last spoke to the 78-year-old on March 27.
Police have now sifted through 12.7 percent of the garbage quarantined according to drone maps and have found a clue that they are on the right track.
Police believe they are on the right track in the search for missing woman Lesley Trotter (pictured), as they sift through thousands of tons of rubbish for her body
“Police have found paperwork from a resident who lives on a nearby street from Mrs. Trotter’s Maryvale Street residence, indicating current search efforts are concentrated in the correct area,” a spokesman said.
Detective Andrew Massingham confirmed earlier in April that there was ‘strong evidence’ that Ms Trotter’s body had been retrieved from a wheelie bin near her home on Maryvale St in Toowong.
They believe her body was then compacted in a dump.
“Ongoing investigations may indicate that on the morning of Tuesday, March 28 this year, the body of a woman we believe was Lesley Trotter was found in a garbage can,” he said.
It was clear she was dead. Due to the positioning of the body, we cannot rule out foul play.
Aerial drone shots indicate that 12.7 percent of the garbage that was quarantined has been searched and police have found paperwork belonging to a resident who lives on a nearby street, which they say indicates they are in the right neighborhood (photo: Swanbank rubbish dump)
Detectives confirmed earlier in April that there was ‘strong evidence’ that Ms Trotter’s body was retrieved from a rubbish bin near her home on Maryvale St in Toowong and her body was then compressed in a rubbish bin (Photo: Ms Trotter)
“Later that morning, that bin was picked up by a garbage truck.”
Despite homicide detectives being called in, Superintendent Massingham said he couldn’t rule out Ms Trotter’s rubbish sorting habits having something to do with her death.
He said that ‘Mrs Trotter would often go to the bins at the front of her residence or neighboring properties and take the recycling waste out of the general bins and place it in the appropriate bins’.
Superintendent Massingham said Ms Trotter’s habit was ‘well known’ to other tenants, while police are investigating whether it has caused any ‘anxiety’.
The search of the trash is expected to take several weeks, weather permitting (photo: Detectives comb through the trash looking for remains)
Police have spoken with local residents as part of the investigation.
The search of the debris is expected to take several weeks, weather permitting.
Earlier this week, agents had to temporarily suspend their search due to wet weather and strong winds.