Forensic testing reveals bone found at Cottesloe Beach is human

A mysterious bone found in the sand at Cottesloe Beach at the weekend is believed to be a human tibia bone.

Police are now trawling through hundreds of missing person cases — including cases of people who went missing at sea — to try and determine who the bone belongs to.

A member of the public found the bone at the iconic beach about 9am on Saturday.

The bone was secured by Surf Life Saving WA personnel before police were called.

“The bone has since undergone further assessment by a pathologist who has determined it to be human,” a police spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Police said further forensic testing will now take place to match the bone to any outstanding missing people.

On Wednesday, Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the bone was believed to be a tibia — one of the two major bones in a person’s leg.

Mr Blanch said his officers and a team of forensic pathologists were now working to determine who the bone belonged to.

“It will be managed through our forensic pathology and forensic pathologist area to see if we can identify who that may belong to,” he said.

“We’ll also be canvassing all missing people, or those and who may have been lost at sea, but at this stage we don’t have an identity.”

Mr Blanch said it was unclear at this stage how old the bone was, or how long the process might take to identify who the remains belong to.

“I think that’s the work of the experts,” he said.

Among the missing person cases that police might review as part of the bone discovery will be that of Julie Cutler.

Ms Cutler, 22, vanished in June 1988 after leaving Julianna’s nightclub, which was part of the Parmelia Hilton hotel at the time.

She was last seen driving away from the hotel in the early hours of June 20 in her black Fiat sedan.

Her car was later found in the ocean off Cottesloe beach two days later. Her body has never been found.

A coronial inquest last year into Ms Cutler’s disappearance resulted in coroner Sarah Linton making an open finding as to how the 22-year-old died.

“Having considered all of the evidence compiled by the numerous police officers investigating this matter for more than three decades, as well as the additional evidence heard at the inquest, I am unable to reach a conclusion as to how Julie died,” Ms Linton said at the time.

“Accordingly, I make an open finding as to the manner of death.”

The case of a 75-year-old woman who vanished from Cottesloe in April 2022 might also be reviewed following the bone discovery.

Jeanne Christine D’Arcy was reported missing by her family after she was last seen outside Cottesloe’s Ocean Beach Hotel about 11pm on April 13, 2022.

Police launched a massive search for her along Cottesloe Beach in the days that followed but she was never found.