“That container has not been accessed in a number of years but the owners of the business have been very cooperative,” she said. “ We’re treating the matter as suspicious.”  When asked whether the grisly discovery could provide a breakthrough to a cold case, Detective Senior Sergeant Fuhrmeister responded “absolutely”.  She said it was not clear whether the current owners' records detailed who owned it at the time the body was most likely dumped. “ We’ll be looking at cold cases and long-term missing persons as part of the investigation,” she said.  Police are investigating after human remains were found in Oakleigh South.  Credit:Nine News Detective Senior Sergeant Fuhrmeister said police were yet to identify the dead person and could not say whether they were male or female. 

She said police believed the human remains could have been hidden there in "excess of 15 years".  The remains were found submerged in grass clippings and dirt. “ We’re still in the midst of examining the crime scene,” Detective Senior Sergeant Fuhrmeister said. “ We’ll also need to do a post-mortem and look at dental records to determine the identity of the person.”  She said police would search the entire warehouse as part of the investigation but had not found anything else suspicious so far. 

Staff were clearing out the building in an industrial area when the grisly discovery was made.  Credit:Nine News Police at the scene of the discovery.  Credit:Josh Robenstone An employee told The Age that the remains were found by another worker helping to clean out one of the storage premises. " It was at one of the buildings we are vacating," she said. " They found some remains."  She said the company had been clearing out the premises for several months and had nearly finished the job when the remains were found. 

"We've been clearing for quite some time, it was the last one to do," she said. " It's a bit concerning, obviously, but it's a thing that occasionally happens in storage.  We've never had it happen, but you hear about it."  Philip Hutcherson who discovered the remains told Channel Nine he and other workers tipped over a container filled with soil and straw to discover the bin inside.  In the bin, they spotted a black boot. " When we tipped [the container] over the soil fell out and then we noticed a wizbin [wheelie bin] ... and it had occo [sic] straps holding the lid down. 

"So we undone the [occy] straps and then it had grass, so we scraped it out and then that’s when we’ve seen the legs ... by the boots."  Anton Hillemacher said: "It wasn't until I saw what looked like a foot in a sock, anyway I thought 'oh shit'."  One witness, only identified as John, said he realised the worst when he removed the boot. " The boys said, 'I hope there's nothing attached to that boot'. " I pulled the boot.  There was." 

Police outside the red brick building where the remains were found.  Credit:AAP Lloyd Cowan, who owns Rent-A-Van across the road, said the property where the body was discovered was sold about three months ago.  He said he saw police swarm the area about 11am. " All these police turned up so I asked somebody, who had been in there cleaning it out, what’s happened and I was told as they were cleaning out the place they found a body wrapped in plastic ... with two legs sticking out,” he said. “ The guy who was renting it for storage has got a business on the other side so he had to clear it out ... we’ve been renting out vans to them to get everything cleared out in the last couple of weeks.  Nobody could have ever expected this though.” 

The red brick building where the body was found is in the middle of an industrial area surrounded by warehouses, mechanic workshops, engineering and machinery businesses.  A huge police presence remained at the scene on Friday night, with homicide squad detectives interviewing people who work at the storage facility and nearby businesses.  A large section of the street remained blocked off by police.  Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.  with James Hearnes