Australia, Missing toddler’s body found 11 years after disappearance, police believe. Brookfield, Melbourne, Victoria Found 10th Dec 2025

[TootsieFootsie]

Missing toddler’s body found 11 years after disappearance, police believe

Remains have been found buried at a property in Melbourne’s north-west.

www.theage.com.au

Missing toddler’s body found 11 years after disappearance, police believe

Toddler was not reported missing at the time.


May be behind a paywall. Posting it here for those who subscribe.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Remains found during investigation into toddler's disappearance

Detectives have discovered what appear to be human remains while investigating the disappearance of a Melbourne toddler 11 years ago.

www.abc.net.au

ABC News Australia

Police discover remains while investigating 2014 disappearance of Melbourne toddler

Detectives have discovered what appear to be human remains while investigating the disappearance of a Melbourne toddler 11 years ago.

Police said the remains were uncovered on Monday during an excavation at a house in Brookfield, in the city's outer west.

The toddler was not reported missing in 2014, but the Melton Crime Investigation Unit commenced an investigation into the matter earlier this year.

Police stressed that the current residents of the property have no knowledge or connection to the investigation of the people who lived there at the time in question.

 

[Spectrix]

The suspected remains of a toddler last seen alive more than a decade ago have been found buried in a shallow grave at a property in Melbourne’s west.
The 18-month-old was never reported missing after he disappeared in 2014.

In a statement on Wednesday, Victoria Police said what appeared to be human remains were discovered at a property in Brookfield, following a preliminary excavation at 1.30pm.

It was reported that the boy lived at the home with his parents and two siblings in 2014, before they moved overseas, possibly to the country of Albania.

Police were tipped off by a relative who knew the 18-month-old toddler before his disappearance.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/crime/police-discover-human-remains-at-property-in-brookfield-melbourne-amid-probe-into-2014-disappearance-of-toddler/news-story/8e6f9d0b7ef18820f9a8696eaa0519f4

 

[Spectrix]

Australia have an extradition treaty with Albania. I wonder if the family will be located?

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[LadyL]

Australia have an extradition treaty with Albania. I wonder if the family will be located?

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hopefully

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I'm so glad that this relative came forward.
So glad that someone wondered what happened to him.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Family who lived at home where human remains found 'trashed' house, sources say

A family who lived in a Melbourne home where police uncovered human remains while investigating the disappearance of a toddler say they are disturbed by the find.

www.abc.net.au

ABC News Australia

The family that lived at a Melbourne property around the time a toddler went missing in 2014 stopped paying their rent, trashed the house and "ran off", sources have told the ABC.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

He was at work when police said a body was buried in yard

Investigators scoured the yard of his suburban home using specialised ground-penetrating machines before digging up the body.

www.smh.com.au

Police are trying to locate the family who are thought to be from Kosovo.

May be behind a paywall. Posting it here for those who subscribe.

 

[Spectrix]

He was at work when police said a body was buried in yard

Investigators scoured the yard of his suburban home using specialised ground-penetrating machines before digging up the body.

www.smh.com.au

Police are trying to locate the family who are thought to be from Kosovo.

May be behind a paywall. Posting it here for those who subscribe.

Paraphrasing for those who are behind a paywall; the current tenant of the home was at work when police notified him that they planned to look for remains in his back yard.
He and his family have lived in the house for 10 years.

The family who formerly lived in the home are thought to have been from Kosovo in south-east Europe, which is bordered by Albania.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Family had fled house where boy’s body found, owing rent

The family who had lived in the Brookfield house in 2013-2014 had left the property extensively damaged, the owner says.

www.theage.com.au

‘Like chasing a ghost’: Family had fled house where toddler’s body found, owing thousands in rent


May be behind a paywall. Posting it here for those who subscribe.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

So none of the neighbours there now were there in 2013 or 2014.

What about trying to find neighbours who were there at those times.

I mean it's not that long ago that none could possibly be alive.
They may have seen or heard something they found strange at the time.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Family had fled house where boy’s body found, owing rent

The family who had lived in the Brookfield house in 2013-2014 had left the property extensively damaged, the owner says.

www.theage.com.au

‘Like chasing a ghost’: Family had fled house where toddler’s body found, owing thousands in rent

They were from Kosovo; were they earning enough to pay all of their bills when they first moved in? I don't mean to be offensive, but IF they were receiving a housing allowance why didn't it go directly to the landlord? How does that work in Australia? Or if they had a job or jobs, maybe their prior employers might have something helpful to say.

And how does the government not know if they flew out of the country?

Apologies for any wrong assumptions I am making here.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

The government does know they left Australia and what country they landed in but of course until now they would have no reason to keep track of them.

I'm sure there's a lot going on that they haven't announced yet

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I suppose it's way too late for the house owner who rented to them to try and get their money back.

 

[Melt71]

Australia have an extradition treaty with Albania. I wonder if the family will be located?

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Extraditions are extraordinarily difficult; if they are Australian citizens it may be slightly easier. But if they never became citizens and are now back in their home country then it may be very complicated and unfortunately maybe not possible. Many countries will not extradite their own citizens under any circumstances. This is why you sometimes see people being arrested when they are on vacation in a third location and then quickly extradited before they can return home (for example this Greek-Australian who could not be extradited to face murder charges until he went on holidays to a 3rd location - Italy - where he was arrested and extradited to Australia He committed a double murder 47 years ago, the Greek-Australian is now arrested in Italy).

 

[Melt71]

They were from Kosovo; were they earning enough to pay all of their bills when they first moved in? I don't mean to be offensive, but IF they were receiving a housing allowance why didn't it go directly to the landlord? How does that work in Australia? Or if they had a job or jobs, maybe their prior employers might have something helpful to say.

And how does the government not know if they flew out of the country?

Apologies for any wrong assumptions I am making here.

If they were on government benefits but renting from a private landlord then the money (called a rental supplement) is paid to the welfare recipient who then pays their rent. I would bet the vast majority of welfare recipients are good tenants (that's been our experience as landlords in a major city in Australia).

The government (Australian Border Force - the ABF) will have their first port of departure after Australia, if they left on their own passports. A bit hard if they borrowed/bought/stole other people's identities. Also there are no direct flights to eastern Europe. ABF would only know if they boarded a flight to the UK, UAE, Qatar, Singapore, Taiwan etc. Until now, Australian Federal Police and their state counterparts may not have had legal cause to request an airline to release ticket records. Guaranteed they now have that though, but it's not something readily available to government offices like ABF, for every passenger.

Also, knowing someone flew to a city in Europe isn't enough - once people land in Europe they can pretty much move freely across borders and end up anywhere.