Digital facial reconstruction could help solve Tweed Heads mystery

Police have turned to forensic artists to give a face to a man found dead in a bag in northern NSW almost a decade ago, in a bid to finally solve the mystery case.

Groundbreaking 3D imaging technology has helped police reconstruct the face of a man whose decayed body was found in a bag in a river in Tweed Heads nine years ago.

A local fisherman stumbled across the mystery man inside a cotton-fibre style bag on the bank of Tweed River in Tumbulgum on 24 November 2012.

Police were able to then conclude the body was a caucasian man aged between 50 and 70 years, but his identity still remains a mystery.

A coronial inquest in 2013 could not determine the cause of the man’s death and exactly when he died.

A forensic artist from the University of Dundee in Scotland constructed a 3D virtual sculpture and digital forensic facial reconstruction.

The decomposed body was found in a cotton fibre style bag in the Tweed River.

Investigators teamed up with forensic artists at the University of Dundee in Scotland early last year to piece together a 3D virtual sculpture of what the missing man would have looked like.

Digital forensic facial reconstruction has also helped provide more accurate anatomical details of his face to help in the identification process.

As part of National Missing Persons Week this year, police have released the artist’s impressions of the missing man with hopes it will refresh people’s memories and prompt anyone with new information to come forward.

NSW Police are making an Australia-wide appeal for information in an effort to identify a man whose decomposed body was found on the bank of the Tweed River at Tumbulgum

Tweed/Byron Crime Manager and Detective Chief Inspector, Brendon Cullen, is pleading with people across the country to take a look at the new 3D images.

“Any piece of information which could help us find out who he is will help us establish his links, his history, his associates, and ultimately determine the circumstances surrounding his death,” he said.

“While we are yet to find a match on any Missing Persons database, we are confident there is someone out there who will know this man and recognise his features.”