Murder shakes suburbia

It's a scene of picture perfect suburbia, a sprawling new development on Melbourne's fringes where young couples flock to buy affordable new homes.

The image is in stark contrast to the horror discovered at one of the shiny Point Cook homes in Melbourne's southwest late on Saturday where neighbours were shocked to find police had uncovered a woman's remains.

Police have confirmed they believe the body is missing 22-year-old Sarah Cafferkey and are treating the case as a murder investigation.

Police and forensics officers today scoured the single storey home which neighbours say is rented.

Sweta Sheth, a neighbour who moved in with her husband and baby six weeks ago, said the couple often saw a man working in his garage in the rented property.

"Just doing stuff in the garage. Nothing out of the ordinary that you would suspect," she told AAP.

"He was just a normal Aussie bloke."

Ms Sheth said a yellow car had been parked outside the home, rather than in the garage since the couple moved in.

"That car has been outside since we moved in. It's just been there," she said.

Most people in the sapling-lined street owned their houses in the new development and news of the murder had come as a shock.

"It is (scary) because we just moved in," she said.

Neighbours had reported hearing power tools and parties at the home but Ms Sheth said the area was pin-drop silent.

Ms Cafferkey, of Bacchus Marsh, who suffers from a rare asthma-related illness, was last seen by her family on November 9.

Her 2001 Astra sedan was found parked in Maribyrnong, western Melbourne, about 50km away from her home last Thursday night.

Homicide detectives took over the investigation after it emerged her car was in a location unfamiliar to her family, and that her bank account had not been accessed since her disappearance.

Police on Saturday executed a search warrant at a home in Fongeo Drive, Point Cook, where they found human remains.

The property is about 50km southeast of Bacchus Marsh.

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