Burnt body at Melbourne beach 'not suspicious'
Police are still struggling to identify a woman whose body was found badly burnt at a popular Melbourne beach, but the grisly discovery is not being treated as suspicious.
The woman, believed to be in her 70s and found by a passer by around 9am Monday morning, was set alight just a few hundred metres from a popular walking track at Altona Beach Esplanade.
"Following the results of a post mortem this evening, the matter will now be investigated by local detectives," a police spokeswoman said.
"The discovery of the body of a woman in Altona this morning is not being treated as suspicious."
Due to the extent of the burns, police are still to identify the woman.
Police are also asking people to check on family or friends and to contact police if they believe someone is missing.
"Police ask anyone who noticed an elderly woman in the area this morning to come forward," the spokesperson said.
"Police are also asking people to check on any family or friends from the local area who are approximately the same age and to contact police if they believe someone they know is missing."
Earlier on Monday Detective Senior Sergeant Stephen McIntyre said it was difficult to determine how long the woman had been at the popular walking track before she was discovered.
"There is a fair amount of pedestrian traffic along this street so we assume that if she had of been there yesterday she would have been seen," he said.
The woman is the third to be found in Melbourne in recent weeks with one woman found dead in her Kew home and another found wrapped in a blanket in a carpark.
