Police have launched a homicide investigation and are searching for a man after the gruesome discovery of a woman's body in a barrel.
Officers went to an address at Buccan in Logan on Wednesday afternoon in relation to a missing persons case.
A man wanted for questioning fled in a black utility later found abandoned at Stapylton.
Detective Superintendent regional crime coordinator for the south eastern region, Mark White, said officers discovered the body while searching the ute.
The man who abandoned the black ute is now believed to be driving a silver, late model Holden Commodore.
Police are warning members of the public not to approach the man.
Detective Superintendent White said an investigation centre had been set up at Logan and a number of detectives from Logan, the Gold Coast and the Homicide Investigation Unit were conducting inquiries.
"As you can appreciate, there's a fairly intensive forensic examination that is occurring as we speak and will continue to occur possibly for the next 24-48 hours, depending on how things go," he said.
"We are conducting some very extensive inquiries in relation to any person associated with that car and also the address at Buccan — that process can take a while because it can be very wide-ranging, but we're at a very critical stage."
He said the ute was found near a caravan park and police had started to speak with residents in the hunt for relevant information.
