Woman’s ex husband and daughter charged with her MURDER after she was found stuffed inside a bag in Australian river

POLICE have charged a dead woman's ex-husband and daughter with her murder after her body was found in a suitcase dumped in a river.

Annabelle Chen was found stuffed in the luggage found in the Swan River in Perth, Australia, in July.

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Major Crime Squad detectives arrested a Ah Ping Ban, 65, and 25-year-old Tiffany Yiting Wan on Wednesday over Ms Chen’s death.

Both been charged with murder.

The pair did not apply for bail and were remanded in custody due to reappear in court on October 26.

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At a press conference held after the pair had appeared in court, Det-Sen. Sgt Tom Mills from the major crime squad said Ms Chen and Wan, her only biological daughter, moved to Perth in 1999 from Singapore.

Ms Chen bought the Meath Mews home in which she was allegedly killed so that her daughter had a base close to prestigious MLC school.

She graduated from the Claremont high school in 2009, and moved to Melbourne two years later, .

Det-Sen. Sgt Mills said Wan was a frequent visitor to Perth in the years after she relocated.

He said the rest of Ms Chen's family was devastated by what had happened.

Ban has homes in Singapore and Malaysia but also spends a good deal of time in Australia.

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Cops said he was not extradited and he is believed to have flown in to Perth recently to give police as statement voluntarily.

Ms Chen’s body was found by a fisherman in a suitcase on the Swan River near Fremantle on July 2, the day of the Federal election.

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Green ceramic tiles adorned with flowers, blue SB Polo luggage and a bizarre scooter strapped with a breadboard were the items detectives used to lead them to their suspect in the murder.

Ms Chen’s last known contact with her family was with her daughter on June 30.

Squid fisherman found the body of the diminutive 57-year-old, who was just 158cm tall and weighed around 59kg, in a SB Polo suitcase near the Fremantle Traffic Bridge south of Perth on July 2.

She was half-naked, had suffered significant injuries and the patterned ceramic tiles had been placed inside the suitcase with her remains, probably to weigh it down, police said.

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Cops issued a call for information on her identity two days later.

Police also disclosed Ms Chen had been wearing a Kathmandu vest, a black T-shirt with a distinctive “Tokyo Disneyland” logo, and a long sleeve shirt.

Officers spent weeks scouring the river for more evidence

Ms Chen’s identity was not confirmed until two months later, after her daughter flew in from Melbourne and raised the alarm about her missing mother.

The 57-year-old had moved to Australia in 1999.

Ms Chen was a reclusive artist with estranged family in Perth and had lived in a home on Meath Mews in Mosman Park for the past 11 years.