Relative charged with murder of Martin Meffert in bizarre Terowie cold case
MAJOR Crime detectives have charged a relative of Mid North man Martin Craig Meffert with his murder, after his partial remains were found in a fireplace in Terowie in 2013.
FOR eight years, some of murdered disabled pensioner Martin Meffert’s relatives allegedly made fortnightly withdrawals from his BankSA account.
Police believe they siphoned between $570 and $700 each time, managing to steal more than $136,000, which was spent on buying drugs and on their lifestyles.
Yesterday, Major Crime detectives arrested and charged one of the three relatives with the murder of Martin Meffert.
On several occasions one of the male relatives even impersonated Mr Meffert, giving bank staff the correct answers to his security questions and even crudely forging his signature.
The alleged conspiracy only came to an abrupt end when the partial skeleton of Mr Meffert was found stored in the fireplace of a dilapidated house in Terowie, in the Mid North of the state.
The other two relatives, a male and a female, may face criminal charges as the focus of the investigation now switches to them.
Major Crime officer-in-charge Detective Superintendent Des Bray yesterday revealed the pair, who both live in the Mid North, may face a variety of charges that include theft, impeding an investigation and money laundering.
He said both were spoken to yesterday with one participating in an interview and the other refusing to answer questions. “The investigation is firmly focused on the pair whom we believe impeded the investigation and took part in the theft and money laundering activity,’’ he said.
“Over a period of eight years, Martin’s bank account was systematically milked on a fortnightly basis and to facilitate the ongoing theft of that money the offenders had to create another identity for Martin Meffert at the Peterborough post office.
“The last transaction was three days before Martin’s remains were found and after that the offenders stopped stealing money from that account.’’
Detectives have obtained CCTV vision of one male suspect – not the charged man – from an ATM in which he is wearing a distinctive brown jacket.
They are seeking public assistance and want anyone who knows the owner of the jacket to contact them.
“We would ask anybody who knows the person who was wearing that coat or has seen him wearing it on other occasions to contact us,’’ Det-Supt Bray said.
Detectives have also recovered many bank withdrawal slips – complete with forged signatures – that are now being forensically tested for both fingerprints and DNA profiles.
He urged both remaining suspects to “carefully consider’’ their positions following the recovery of these documents and yesterday’s development in the case.
“They know what they have done, they cannot unravel what they have done in the past,’’ he said.
“We will do everything we can to gather sufficient evidence to put together a brief of evidence against those people.’’
Detectives will allege the arrested man murdered Mr Meffert sometime between February and October 2005. The accused was aged 16 at the time of the murder.
He will be tried as an adult after a decision by Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber SC.
The breakthrough in the bizarre cold case murder follows an intensive review of the case in 2016 and nine months of a renewed and comprehensive investigation targeting the key suspect and the two associates.
It culminated yesterday when the man was arrested at noon at his Terowie home, taken to the Jamestown police station where he was charged with murder and is now being held at the Port Pirie police station awaiting a court appearance on Tuesday.
The breakthrough in the cold case comes just nine days after Major Crime detectives cracked a 45-year cold case by charging Geoffrey Adams, the husband of Yorke Peninsula mother Colleen Adams, with her murder.
Both cases were reactivated under Major Crime’s Operation Persist initiative, which is probing more than two dozen of SA’s most notorious cold case murders. The arrest in the Meffert case is the sixth breakthrough since the operation started in 2015.
The Meffert case is among the most bizarre encountered in South Australia. The victim’s partial skeleton was found in a bag inside a plastic container in the fireplace of a Terowie home on October 24, 2013.
The remains, which were not hidden, were discovered when local police visited the home as part of a routine firearms investigation involving a neighbouring property.
It is believed the remains had previously been buried at another location before being exhumed for an unknown reason. Excavations in the backyard of the property failed to find evidence to assist the investigation.
Mr Meffert was last seen alive in February 2005, when he caught a bus in Adelaide to return to the Mid North town. He was then aged 23.
He spent his early years living at Kadina, on Yorke Peninsula, with his parents. In 1998, they moved to Adelaide and lived at several addresses in the western suburbs before his parents separated. Mr Meffert moved to Terowie to stay with an aunt and his cousin in 2004 after his mother passed away.
Detectives believe he was killed in Terowie in the months after returning from Adelaide following medical treatment in February 2005. One of the biggest factors puzzling detectives is why Mr Meffert’s remains were dug up after being buried.
“Recovering the rest of Mr Meffert’s remains is a very important part of this investigation and I would urge anyone who can assist to contact us,’’ Det-Supt Bray said.
Mr Meffert’s father yesterday paid tribute to police over the development in the case.
“Martin was a dearly loved and missed son and brother and though I am relieved that a person has been arrested for his murder, I will not find more relief until the person is behind bars for the rest of his life,’’ Mr Meffert snr said.
A $200,000 reward is still available for anyone who provides information in the case and assists detectives to locate the rest of Mr Meffert’s remains.