Marcus Peter Volke, 28, cut his own throat and was found dead in a bin a short time after fleeing from a unit where a woman’s remains were discovered, police said.

Detectives said the two deaths in the affluent Brisbane suburb of Teneriffe were being treated as a murder-suicide.

Officers went to the apartment building on Commercial Road at about 9:00pm on Saturday after neighbours reported a putrid smell coming from a unit in the complex.

Officers discovered a body part — believed to belong to his Indonesian girlfriend — in a pot on the stove as well as other parts of her mutilated body in the ground-floor apartment.

Police said when they knocked on the apartment door Volke fled his unit on foot and his body was later found inside a green commercial rubbish bin in Dath Street with a fatal self-inflicted throat wound.

Blood stains were left on a fence where he jumped down to a laneway.

His mother Dorothy Volke on Sunday said from her home in Victoria that she had spoken to her son a week ago and he seemed happy.

“He was happy and he was coming home for Christmas, everything was normal,’’ she said.

She said her son had only recently returned to Australia from working internationally aboard boats.

The couple had met on international cruise ships when they both worked as chefs.

“He’d been on a ship, going from one country to another,” Mrs Volke said. “They hadn’t been in Brisbane for very long, only a few months. They were starting to get settled. I don’t know what was going on — we hadn’t seen him for a year-and-a-half.”

“It still doesn’t feel real,” she said. “He was one of these kids that would do anything for you, he had a feel for nature.”

“Police attended to the units at 113 Commercial Road, Teneriffe, conducting a welfare check because management were concerned about the welfare of some occupants,” Detective Senior Sergeant Tom Armitt said.

“On attendance we’ve had cause to commence an investigation in relation to a murder-suicide.” Mrs Volke said the police told her on Sunday they still had to formally identify the body with dental records and an autopsy.

Nearby residents described a huge commotion as a large number of officers and dog squad units scoured the area.

Forensic experts have been carrying out examinations at both crime scenes.

Teneriffe has undergone major residential development in the past decade and attracts a large number of young professionals.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.