Menai body: Najma Carroll identified in Sandy Point Quarry death
Police have identified the body of a woman found dumped near a quarry as officers continue to probe her suspected violent death. The 33-year-old was found partially-clothed in bushland and cops believe someone had tried to torch her body.
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Police have named the woman found dead in bushland in Sydney’s south as 33-year-old Najma Carroll.
Her body was found partially clothed at 5.15pm on Wednesday near Sandy Point Quarry about 850m off Heathcote Road, Menai.
Police have said her body showed signs of significant injuries, particularly to her head.
Officers also believe someone had attempted to burn the body as there were signs of fire at the scene as well as injuries consistent with burns.
Emergency services were called around 5.15pm on Wednesday evening after a dog walker made the grim discovery.
“The person who was walking the dog said his dog was acting a little unusual and that’s when he found the body,” Sutherland Shire Police’s acting commander Steve Patton said.
“Her family is very upset.”
Ms Carroll’s body was found in an isolated area near a popular bushwalking track and dirt bike trail.
Police are yet to determine how long Ms Carroll’s body had been there due to recent heavy rain and difficult terrain near the sandstone rock quarry.
It is not yet clear if she was killed at the scene or if she suffered the fatal injuries elsewhere and was dumped near the quarry.
Addressing reports that attempts had been made to burn the body, Mr Patton said: “There were some signs of fire at the scene, and some burn injuries.”
He said his officers were treating it as a murder investigation.
Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, he added: “We’re very keen to hear from people who were associated with her and that’s why we are making this public appeal for assistance.”
Police believe Ms Carroll was transient, and spent some time in the Liverpool area though her last known address was in Marrickville.
The former Sydney Girls High School student was usually in contact with her family, though she had not been reported missing in recent days or weeks.
Mr Patton also confirmed Ms Carroll was known to police for minor drug matters, the nature of which was not disclosed.
Board of Studies records reveal Ms Carroll was a talented student at Sydney Girls High School in 2004, achieving top marks in her HSC for English Extension and Modern History.
Officers from Sutherland Shire Police Area Command remained at the scene on Thursday afternoon.
Earlier in the day officers from the Public Order and Riot Squad combed bushland near the quarry entrance armed with neon flags.
Officers have continued to search along the ground towards a popular local dirt bike track, which is blocked off from the quarry with police tape.
A spokeswoman for Benedict Sands Sandy Point, the sandstone rock quarry near where Ms Carroll was found, said the news was “deeply disturbing”.
“Our site personnel have been co-operating with the authorities to assist in any way we can,” the spokeswoman said.
“Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victim.”
Investigators would like to speak to anyone with information about her movements in recent days or anyone who may have frequented the area off Heathcote Road, locally known as ‘white rock’, recently and may have seen anything suspicious.
Speaking on Thursday afternoon, caravan business owner Ian Clare said he and his girlfriend met Ms Carroll in Coonamble three years ago and brought her back to Sydney where she lived with them for three months before moving on.
“We’ve still got her dog ... (she was) a very unsettled girl, very emotionally disturbed,” Mr Clare said.
“She was nice and compassionate, I don’t think she let a lot of people get close to her through feelings.
“(On Facebook) she just rambled on about basically religion and different things like that and signs and how people thought - she had her own mind.”
Mr Clare said he had last seen Ms Carroll about a month ago when she returned to his Liverpool home to collect some belongings in a new car she had recently purchased.
“Last we spoke to her she was living around the Marrickville area on people’s couches … she was basically living the rough life, basically homeless, no steady home,” he said.
He revealed that in a recent Facebook message from June 28 she asked about her dog, Chucky.
“(I wanted to see the dog) because things haven’t been easy lately and some unconditional love from a being that isn’t ego driven and doesn’t confuse love with something that hurts,” she wrote.
She was remembered by others on Facebook as a “sweet friend” in series of emotional posts.
“Rest in piece (sic) my sweet friend… I still can’t believe you are no longer with us,” friend Chauntelle Grinham wrote.
“We didn’t get along when we first met...when we got past all that we became good friends. I hope they find whoever did this to you.”
Ms Grinham wrote she had last spoken to Carroll “five days ago roughly” to arrange a child’s birthday party and to organise for the 33 year-old “to go to rehab”.
Another friend Amanda Holstein wrote on Facebook she “can’t believe” Carroll’s killer, who has yet to be arrested, “did these things” to her.