Ian Park identified as remains located at Burdekin River

A skeleton found in a tent on the banks of the Burdekin River has been identified three months after it was located by fishermen.

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A skeleton found in a tent on the banks of the Burdekin River has been identified three months after it was located by fishermen.

A spokesman for Queensland Police media said the skeletal remains were formally identified through a number of DNA tests on the remains and then compared with relatives.

“The Coroner has accepted bones located in a swag along the Burdekin River at Dalbeg in August are those of 64-year-old Ian Park,” the spokesman said.

“A number of DNA tests have been conducted on the remains and compared those to DNA samples obtained from living relatives of the deceased.

Human remains found on the banks of the Burdekin River on the weekend by a hunter.

“Mr Park’s family has been notified.”

Fishermen stumbled across the skeletal remains inside a tent by the banks of the river near Eight Miles Creek on August 8, and they were flown to Brisbane for forensic testing.

Police believed the body had been in the tent for a “significant period of time”, likely years.

It’s understood Mr Park was mistaken for Ayr police officer Mick Isles in 2015 and was located by police.

Reports dating back to 2015 suggest a man, mistaken as a sighting of Isles, had been living in various locations along the banks of the Burdekin River.

The suspicious man, known only at the time as “Ian” was reported to police as a possible sighting of Isles and was said to have matched his age and height.

Isles was last seen in September 2009 leaving his Ayr home for a workshop in Townsville. His vehicle was found 100km away from the skeletal remains.

According to the report, police spoke with “Ian” at a Burdekin River embankment where he was described as “casually relaxing and keeping an eye on a crocodile”.

At the time “Ian” was said to have been about 58 years old.

Originally published as Ian Park identified as remains located at Burdekin River