Duo at centre of police search for missing Blue Mountains girl Charlise Mutten
Charlise Mutten, 9, was holidaying with her mother among the gardens of a Blue Mountains wedding venue when she vanished.
NSW
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The son of a millionaire family and a recovered ice addict who killed a friend in a car crash are at the centre of the hunt for nine-year-old Charlise Mutten.
Charlise was five when her mother, Kallista Mutten, was jailed in 2017 at Lismore for a minimum of two years three months for dangerous driving causing death and driving with an illicit drug in her system.
The schoolgirl has been living with her grandmother at Coolangatta in Queensland and was spending two weeks’ holiday among the stunning gardens of celebrated Blue Mountains wedding venue Wildenstein with her mother and her fiance Justin Stein when she vanished.
Mr Stein, who according to property documents lives in a converted designer warehouse in Leichardt, is related to James and Annemie Stein whose vision turned the 12.5 acre block at Mt Wilson into their dream home after they bought it in 1989.
“We are very distressed,” a family source said on Sunday as hundreds of police, Rural Fire Service crews and State Emergency Service volunteers search the area.
Homicide detectives have taken charge of the investigation and seized a red ute and a boat that was on the property for forensic testing. On Sunday, police divers searched through the muddy waters of the Hawkesbury River at Windsor as part of enquiries.
Ms Mutten was rebuilding her life after being released from jail in 2019 after she admitted in Lismore District Court to using ice before she got behind the wheel of her red Holden Apollos sedan when she tried to recklessly overtake a semi-trailer on the Tweed Valley Way at Condong in September 2016.
Her passenger, Karen “Kaz” Bunch, 53, died after three weeks on life support having never regained consciousness after the crash.
Mother-of-two Ms Mutten had told the court she used "two to three points a day" of the drug ice. The court heard she had completed a seven-month program at a rehab clinic after the crash but had since relapsed before cleaning up again.
She had been expelled from the clinic for three weeks after threatening a fellow resident with violence.
Ms Mutten, who had a shocking driving record, told the court she had “turned to ice” to help her cope with life.
The Daily Telegraph does not suggest that Ms Mutten is a current drug user. She became engaged to Mr Stein in December 2020.
The couple has told police that Charlise had not been seen since some time on Thursday afternoon and reported her missing at 8.20am on Friday.
Neighbours said they had told police they saw a car leaving the property at about 4.30am on Friday without any lights on. Wildenstein has been declared a crime scene and a boat and a red ute seized for forensic examination.
Ms Mutten collapsed and was taken to hospital while Mr Stein drove to Penrith on Friday where he spoke to police. There is no suggestion the couple had anything to do with Charlise’s disappearance.
Dutch-born James and Annemie Stein also own an antique jewellery business in Sydneys QVB building and told Australian Country Magazine how they were “bewitched” by the Blue Mountains after moving from Perth.
Wildenstein was developed from a private weekend retreat to a wedding venue by Justin’s brother James Stein Jr and James’ husband PR supremo Keegan Buzza.
It was the setting for the 2017 wedding of Jesinta Campbell to Sydney Swans star Lance “Buddy” Franklin.
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