SYDNEY — Australian police have called off a homicide investigation after forensic examinations determined that what two members of the public believed were human remains inside a discarded suitcase were in fact a lifelike doll.

The discovery was made Sunday by two men driving through Oallen, a small town roughly 200 kilometers, or about 125 miles, southwest of Sydney in New South Wales. According to police, the pair spotted a suitcase dumped on the side of the road, opened it, and found what appeared to be the remains of a deceased woman inside. New South Wales Police were called to the scene just before 1 p.m. local time.

Officers established a crime scene at the location but did not closely examine the contents of the bag at the time, a standard precaution in cases involving suspected human remains. Superintendent Linda Bradbury told reporters that investigators generally avoid disturbing a potential scene more than necessary, particularly under difficult conditions. “We don’t like to disturb remains too much in situ,” Bradbury said, citing poor weather that had affected the area both on the day of the discovery and the following day.

It wasn’t until forensic examiners later assessed the item more closely that its true nature became clear. In a statement issued Monday, police said “the item located in the bag was a lifelike doll, wearing clothing, with hair and a nose piercing.” The statement also noted that the doll bore markings that “resembled bruises and grazes,” details that had likely contributed to the initial belief among the two men, and subsequently investigators, that they were dealing with a genuine crime scene.

Bradbury acknowledged just how convincing the doll appeared, telling reporters it was “very realistic in terms of looking like human remains.” According to a separate report from public broadcaster RNZ, police believe the item was a sex doll, a detail consistent with the lifelike design, clothing and physical detailing described in the official police statement.

Once forensic testing confirmed the item was not human, New South Wales Police formally closed the homicide investigation that had been opened following the initial discovery. Police have not indicated whether they intend to pursue any further inquiry into how the doll came to be dumped along the roadside in Oallen, and no additional details have been released regarding the doll’s origin or ownership.

The episode adds to a small but recurring category of cases in which lifelike dolls, mannequins or other realistic objects have been mistaken for human remains by members of the public, prompting emergency responses before forensic examination clarifies the mistake. Advances in the realism of silicone and lifelike doll manufacturing in recent years have made such mix-ups more plausible, particularly when items are found in degraded condition, wrapped in clothing, or exposed to the elements after being discarded outdoors.

While Monday’s resolution ended in relief rather than tragedy, the case initially unfolded against the backdrop of Australia’s broader, grim history with suitcase-related crime scenes, a category of case that has occasionally captured national attention in the country’s true crime coverage. In one of the country’s most notorious cases, the skeletal remains of a young mother, Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson, were discovered in a suitcase-adjacent scene in New South Wales’ Belanglo State Forest in 2010, an area separately linked to a notorious 1990s serial killer who left multiple victims’ bodies at the same site. Years later, in 2015, the remains of Pearce-Stevenson’s young daughter were separately discovered inside a suitcase abandoned near a South Australia highway more than a thousand kilometers away, a discovery that ultimately allowed investigators to connect the two cases through DNA evidence. A man was later convicted in both killings after admitting to the murders in court.

There is no indication that Sunday’s discovery in Oallen bears any connection to that earlier case or to any other active investigation, and police have treated the incident purely as a case of mistaken identity involving a discarded object rather than any indication of a broader pattern of criminal activity in the area.

For the two men who made the initial discovery, the experience nonetheless underscores how quickly an ordinary drive through a remote area can escalate into what appeared, in the moment, to be the discovery of a serious crime. Police have not released the identities of the two men who found the suitcase, and it remains unclear whether they have received any follow-up communication from investigators beyond the closure of the case.

With the investigation now closed, New South Wales Police have not indicated plans for further public comment on the incident, treating Monday’s forensic determination as the conclusion of the matter. The case has, however, drawn wider international attention after being picked up by news outlets across multiple countries, largely due to the unusual and startling nature of mistaking a lifelike doll for a genuine homicide victim under a formal police investigation.