Child remains found inside suitcase bought at New Zealand auction

A New Zealand family has made a grisly discovery inside a suitcase they won at an auction.

The remains of two small children have been discovered in auctioned suitcases in New Zealand.

The victims are thought to be primary-school aged and may have been dead for a number of years.

The grim discovery was made late last week by a family who bought the suitcases as part of an auction for abandoned goods in South Auckland.

NZ Police Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua said the bodies were likely to have been in storage for several years and the victims are thought to have been between five and ten years old.

The children were concealed in two suitcases of similar size, he said.

Police were called to a home in Auckland last week after human remains were found in suitcases. The victims are thought be aged between five and 10 years old. Picture: Jed Bradley/NZ Herald

An investigation is underway to determine where and when they died, with Det Insp Vaaelua telling reporters police hoped to identify the children through DNA.

“The nature of this discovery provides some complexities to the investigation especially given the time lapsed between the time of death and the time of discovery,” he said.

“The investigation team is working very hard to hold accountable the person or persons responsible for the death of these children.”

Det Insp Vaaelua said there were “positive lines of inquiry” in relation to the storage unit.

The family who purchased the contents of an abandoned storage locker made the shocking discovery while they sifted through a trailer load of contents in the front yard of their property.

A witness told the New Zealand Herald there were kids items on the trailer, including “prams, toys and a walker”.

Household and personal items found alongside the suitcases are helping provide clues to identify the victims.

Both the storage unit and property where the suitcases were taken to have been thoroughly examined by forensic experts.

Remains of two children have been found stuffed inside suitcases after a family purchased items from an abandoned storage unit. Picture: NZ Herald

Det Insp Vaaelua also revealed that police in New Zealand were working with international criminal agency Interpol in their investigation.

NZ Police reiterated that the family concerned are not connected to the homicide, but are “understandably distressed by the discovery” and they have asked for privacy, he added.

The relatives of the victims are thought to be in New Zealand.

The children had not yet been identified and Det Insp Vaaelua said he felt for their families, who might not be aware they were dead.

“A lot of us (in the police) are parents and we have a job to do and we’re doing our very best to identify the victims,” he said.

“What I can say is we are making very good progress with DNA inquiries.”

They are looking at canvassing and collecting CCTV, Det Insp Vaaelua said, but the number of years that had passed could make that challenging.

“We are doing our very best to conclude the inquiry and figure out what happened to these young children,” he said.

– Reporting with AFP