Human leg found on NT highway

Police are searching for the owner of a leg found on the side of the Stuart Highway outside Darwin after what is believed to have been a grisly, unreported hit-and-run incident.

Police are searching for the owner of a leg found on the side of the Stuart Highway outside Darwin after what is believed to have been a grisly, unreported hit-and-run incident on Monday evening.

Officers were notified on Tuesday morning about the body part lying beside the Northern Territory’s main arterial thoroughfare and established a crime scene.

A pathologist identified the item as the lower leg of a “dark-skinned human being”, most likely a teenager.

Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Morrisey said crime scene examination led investigators to conclude that “there has been some sort of vehicle versus ­pedestrian collision”.

“Information received since the event from members of the public has suggested that a collision has occurred at that location between the hours of 8pm and 9pm on Monday,” he said.

“The owner of the leg has not been identified, nor has the rest of the person.”

Sergeant Morrisey said information suggested the person could have survived but would have needed urgent medical attention. Authorities had not identified anyone in hospitals or clinics with injuries consistent with that type of incident. He refused to rule out foul play.

“We’ve got the full resources of (the) major crash (division) involved and (the) crime division,” he said. “We’ve received a lot of phone calls from the public.”