Body in stockyard trough treated as a suspicious death

Eleanor Wilson and Farid Farid | October 6, 2026

A partially submerged body believed to be a woman has been discovered in a remote stockyard, with the death being treated as suspicious.

Officers were called to a property on Kyogle Road at Terragon, near Murwillumbah in northern NSW, about 11.20am on Monday following reports of a dead body.

The yet-to-be formally identified woman was found partially submerged in a disused stock dip, a large trough commonly used to bathe livestock in anti-parasite solutions, police said.

Police said the body was badly decomposed.

“The body is believed to be of a female, but due to the state of decomposition of that body I’m unable to provide further details,” Detective Inspector Matthew Zimmer told reporters at the border town of Tweed Heads on Tuesday.

“Due to the location of the body, the remoteness of the area, the absence of vehicle and any other mode of transport, we are treating this death as suspicious.”

He said it was difficult to determine how long the remains had been at the site.

The grim discovery was made by two trail-bike riders in an area deemed crown land.

A crime scene was set up overnight, with specialist forensic examiners combing the area.

Police were checking through missing persons registers in NSW and Queensland, Det Insp Zimmer said.

A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out in coming days to help identify the body and the cause of death.

Terragon is located in Tweed Shire, roughly 40km from the NSW-Queensland border.

It had a population of 98, according to the last Census.