"It's hard to say what happened, or why, but we know for certain that somebody has come and found the suitcase, opened it to have a look what's in there, tipped out the contents and at that stage become aware that it was most likely human remains."
He said up to seven people have since told police they had seen the suitcase on the side of the road where police believe it was first placed about two months ago.
One had dragged the suitcase from the bushes where police had originally believed it dumped and placed it in full sight on the verge.
Others had opened the suitcase, some had even "poked around ... not realising the importance of what was inside".