Mystery continues to surround humans remains found at Ricketts Point in 2018

The identity of a mystery woman who was burnt before her remains were dumped at a Melbourne beach continues to baffle investigators.

Charred bones were found in rock pools at a Beaumaris beach in 2018.

The identity of a woman whose bones were found at a Melbourne beach five years ago remains a mystery, despite the exhaustive efforts of police and “extensive” forensic examinations.

A summary inquest into the unknown human remains, believed to belong to a woman, was held at the Coroners Court of Victoria on Wednesday.

The court heard the poor preservation of the bone fragments indicated the individual had been burnt before the fragments were dumped at the beach a short time later.

Coroner Kate Despot told the court she could not make findings as to the identity, cause of death and circumstances surrounding the death of the person, despite an exhaustive investigation.

The court heard Parks Victoria employees made the grim discovery of the bones at the Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary in Beaumaris East on the afternoon of January 11, 2018.

Several bone fragments were submerged in the rockpools on the foreshore and Victoria Police was contacted, with members of the Bayside criminal investigation unit attending the scene.

Police released photos of where the bones were found in 2019 in the hope somebody would come forward with new information.

Additional bone fragments were then recovered nearby.

The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine was notified and determined the bone fragments were human remains.

Police went to Ricketts Point Sanctuary again on January 17 and found additional bone fragments, which were determined to belong to the same person.

A number of forensic tests and analysis of the remains including DNA was conducted.

It was found the remains consisted of 426 bone fragments of various sizes across all anatomical regions of the skeleton.

The poor preservation of the fragments indicated the individual had been burnt.

The burn fragments were then placed into the marine environment at Ricketts Point in a relatively short time before they were recovered by the Parks Victoria rangers.

There was no apparent evidence of skeletal trauma.

A doctor determined the remains were likely of caucasian ancestry, and the features of the skull displayed female features.

Her age was assessed to be older than 20 at the time of her death and her height was between 151-160cm.

It was not possible to comment on the time since death.

A doctor further commented on the condition of the post-mortem remains describing them as “extremely weathered, fragile and fragmented”.

Doctors were unable to match dental evidence with potential candidates and could not establish the identity of the remains.

Once Victoria Police missing person squad detectives and Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine specialists determined in early 2018 there were no further forensic avenues to identify the deceased, they sent six bone fragments to a private DNA testing company in the UK.

But the company found the bone fragments were in poor condition and were poor candidates for DNA analysis.

The court heard despite an exhaustive investigation by Victoria Police, as well as extensive forensic investigation, the identity of the remains is still unknown.

Ms Despot said the investigation may be reopened if new facts and circumstances came to light in the future.