Bones found near murdered woman's backpack 'may have been part of killer's collection'
ABC News
BY MICHELLE BROWN
UPDATED ABOUT 4 HOURS AGO [as at 18:17 AEDT 19 January 2018]
‘Today, Glebe Coroner's Court in Sydney heard Matheson collected bones and may have discarded several of them when he dumped her backpack in Randwick.
More bone fragments were found after a crime scene was established and the site was excavated - including part of a skull with a nail in it.
Forensic pathologists determined that of the 40 bones and bone fragments recovered, 12 were human and the rest were from animals.
Bones were from at least two women
The officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Matt Fulham, said he agreed with expert opinion that the human bones were from medical cadavers.
Ms Van Blanken was working as an apprentice Disney animator when she was murdered.
Detective Sergeant Fulham said he thought the bones may have been "scavenged" by Matheson for Ms Van Blanken, to help with her work, and drawings.
Detective Sergeant Fulham said it was likely that Matheson did not know he had human bones in his collection.
He believed Matheson had disposed of the bones at the same time as he buried Ms Van Blanken's backpack, because they would have appeared unusual to police investigating Ms Van Blanken's murder.
He said there was also a chance it was "simply coincidental" that the bones had been found near the backpack.
DNA was only able to be extracted from two of the bones.
It confirmed those bones belonged to two females and could be used to identify the women in the future.
Deputy State Coroner Derek Lee found the bones belonged to a minimum of two females and a maximum of 11 people, and that three of the bones were anatomy specimens.
He found the evidence did not allow for the owners to be identified and that it could not be determined how, when or where those people died.’
Read more at:
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-...d-womans-backpack-collected-by-killer/9343126
Inquest into the discovery of unidentified human remains located at Randwick
http://www.coroners.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Unknown bones Randwick - Findings.pdf
