Detective Chief Inspector Roddy Ross told the Evening Telegraph the inquiry team was now “even more strongly of the opinion” the dumping of the bag at Kintore was not down to chance.

“Whoever dumped the bag did not come to Kintore by accident,” DCI Ross said from the site early this afternoon.

“They had to have reason to be here, whether they were a hillwalker, an angler or whatever. They had to have some connection with the area.

“That’s why we’re appealing for the people of Aberdeenshire to come forward if they have any information that can help the inquiry.”

Fresh impetus has been given to the inquiries into the murders in Dundee of Carol Lannen in March 1979 and Elizabeth McCabe in February the following year by a decision by several Scottish forces to look again at unsolved murders involving young women north of the border.

Today Tayside Police enlisted the help of behavioural expert Chuck Burton and geographic profiler Paul Hodgson to look at the circumstances relating to the death of Carol Lannen.

The experts first visited the site at Templeton Woods in Dundee where Carol’s snow-covered body was discovered before driving north to Kintore and studying the riverside site near the quite village.

“These guys have extensive experience of being involved in investigating and analysing a larger number of murders and can help us identify the kind of person we are looking for,” said DCI Ross.

“The facts may remain the same, but someone with their level and depth of experience of other crimes can look at things and put them in a new context.

Mr Burton, a police officer for 30 years, has already had input into the new inquiries into the killings of both Carol Lannen and Elizabeth McCabe and reported on certain behavioural aspect of the killer or killers involved.

However, the involvement of Mr Hodgson has added a new dimension to the investigations.

The experts will now prepare a joint report for the murder hunt detectives.