How the Karen Ristevski murder case intrigued us all
THE twists, heartbreak and intrigue of the Karen Ristevski case gripped us from the moment we heard the 47-year-old Melbourne mum had vanished without a trace.
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THE Karen Ristevski case gripped Australia from the moment the 47-year-old mother vanished without a trace.
It was June 29, 2016 when her husband of 20 years, Borce Ristevski, and their daughter, Sarah, faced the media to appeal for public help to find the Melbourne mum.
As the weeks turned into months, the high-profile mystery was frequently splashed across front pages, and led evening TV news bulletins.
But there was no solution to the mystery: No body, no answers.
INSIDE MELBOURNE’S BIKIE GANGS
At the public appeal for help, with daughter Sarah by his side, Mr Ristevski spoke softly as he said his wife had left home to cool off in the past, but never for more than a couple of hours.
Mr Ristevski had told police that his wife had walked out of their home in Oakley Drive, Avondale Heights about 10am.
When he last saw his wife she had left on foot, was wearing a black blazer, jeans and was carrying a gold Coach handbag.
He explained that they had been discussing the family’s Bella Bleu fashion boutique, which was located at a shopping complex in Taylors Lakes.
“That was the last thing she said to me: ‘I’m going to go and clear my head’,’’ Mr Ristevski said.
“She has always walked back in the door after calming down. And this time we’ve got concern and that’s why we made the report. It is distressing for all the family.
“Without the knowing is the hardest part — not knowing where she is or what we can do to actually get her back.”
He denied they were in financial strife but did admit they spoke about money that day.
Property records would show a caveat had been lodged over the Ristevski family home earlier in 2016. A caveat stops a person’s land from being sold or transferred into another name.
“I just want my mum to come home,” a devastated Sarah told reporters.
Months on, still no sign of Karen
But Mrs Ristevski did not return home.
As the days wore on, detectives working on the investigation, led by the missing persons squad, would often take CCTV footage home with them to study into the night.
They would sit in front of their computers looking at the footage again and again in the hope that a vital clue would spring out at them.
But as Christmas and the six-month anniversary of the disappearance approached, it seemed they would need a lucky break to crack the case.
THE PERPLEXING CASE OF WILLIAM TYRELL
Mr Ristevski, who faced some tough questioning from detectives throughout the investigation, has steadfastly and consistently denied that he had any involvement whatsoever in the disappearance of his wife.
Murky family claims and a fuel gauge
The murder investigation was further complicated just three weeks after Ms Ristevski was reported missing when her stepson, Anthony Rickard, made a series of bizarre claims to Herald Sun crime reporter Andrea Hamblin.
Mr Ristevski’s estranged son from a previous marriage claimed that she was planning on leaving her husband when their daughter Sarah turned 21.
He said he lived with his father, stepmother and half-sister Sarah for several years, but claimed a family conflict that was “swept under the carpet” tore them apart.
Mr Rickard admitted to the Herald Sun that he was a regular ice user.
In a Facebook message to his father, he claimed his father had turned a blind eye to his ice addiction and “allowed Karen to continue her fantasy of leaving u”.
WHY HAVE THESE MURDERS BEEN FORGOTTEN
Two months after she went missing, the Herald Sun exclusively revealed that on the day she disappeared Mrs Ristevski’s phone had been tracked 40km northwest of Melbourne, as had her husband’s.
Data also revealed Mr Ristevski’s phone had been switched off for two hours on June 29 — the day Mrs Ristevski vanished.
Mr Ristevski told police he had taken his wife’s 2004 Mercedes-Benz Coupe for a drive up the Calder Freeway on the day his wife vanished because it had a faulty fuel gauge.
He said the fault corrected itself when he hit a bump in the road and he returned home.
In October 2017 Mrs Ristevski’s stepson backed his father’s claims that the murdered woman’s car had a faulty fuel gauge.
Mr Rickard said his dad took the Mercedes-Benz coupe to an auto electrician but never got the gauge fixed because it was too expensive — instead telling his wife to keep the car topped up with fuel.
A Keilor East mechanic who serviced the Mercedes told the Herald Sun that Mr Ristevski had mentioned the faulty fuel gauge to him.
CCTV captured a black Mercedes-Benz SLK coupe being driven through Diggers Rest, towards Mt Macedon, on the day Mrs Ristevski had last been seen at her Oakley Drive home.
Finally a sad breakthrough
With the Ristevski case, police knew from an early stage that they would have to be patient.
But as 2016 drew to a close detectives investigating were frustrated.
Without a body it was becoming difficult to progress.
In February 2017 the detectives in the Ristevski case got their breakthrough when human remains were found in Macedon Regional Park.
A walker happened across the body in bushland, about 1km off the main road.
As night fell, the silence from Victoria Police about what they had found spoke volumes.
And shortly after 4.30pm on Tuesday, February 21, two detectives from the Missing Persons Squad arrived at the Ristevski family home to break the news: The body was Karen’s.
They left without commenting.
At 6pm, the Victoria Police press office issued a statement confirming that forensic tests had established that the body was that of Mrs Ristevski.
The discovery would not have come as a surprise to the detectives investigating the case.
As long ago as August 2016 sources were telling the Herald Sun they were convinced Mrs Ristevski was dead.
Clues from the phone records led police to believe the rural area northwest of Melbourne was where she would eventually be found.
They had searched an area around Toolern Vale and Gisborne not far away the week before Christmas.
The discovery of her body was an undoubted boost to the murder investigation, but it would be many months before an arrest would be made and charges laid.
More than 100 people came to pay their respects to Mrs Ristevski at her funeral, with her husband breaking down during the service at St John’s Uniting Church in Essendon.
Pallbearers led by Mr Ristevski and Stephen Williams — Karen’s only brother — carried her coffin.
But for her family there was little solace in laying her to rest.
And Mr Rickard’s continuing social media claims left them hurting even more.
Marguerite, Karen’s aunt, said Ms Ristevski wasn’t here to stand up for herself.
“It is about respect for Karen,” she said in September this year.
“I would like Karen to be remembered for the person she was.
“I do think Anthony is not in a good state of mind.
“He is not doing anything out of any desire to help Karen’s memory. He is turning a tragic story into grubby gossip.”
The investigation into the Mercedes steps up
Detectives spent months tracking down the owners of just about every car in Victoria similar to that of the Mercedes shown in the CCTV footage.
They weren’t able to eliminate Mr Ristevski as the driver.
It showed a black Mercedes of the type owned by Ms Ristevski being driven northwest along the Old Calder Highway and crossing the Diggers Rest railway crossing about 11.12am.
The footage also captured several other vehicles being driven over the Diggers Rest railway crossing about the time the Mercedes was snapped.
They include a white Ford Ranger single cab ute towing a dual axel trailer with a yellow mini-excavator on it; a black Holden Commodore ute fitted with a black canopy; a maroon Nissan Patrol wagon with a black roof rack and a spare tyre fixed to the rear door; a white Honda Jazz wagon and a silver Kia Rio wagon.
“It’s likely anybody viewing the CCTV footage would recognise their own vehicle, particularly the very distinctive Ford Ranger towing the mini-excavator — which was travelling in proximity to the Mercedes,” Insp Tim Day told the Herald Sun.
“We also want to hear from anyone who recognises and can identify any of the other vehicles seen in the footage.
“I also urge any person who may have been in the Gisborne or the Mount Macedon areas about midday on Wednesday June 29 last year, particularly in the vicinity of the Macedon Regional Park, the Mount Macedon Golf Club or Mount Macedon Road, near where Ms Ristevski’s body was found, and who may have seen a black Mercedes in these locations, to contact Crime Stoppers.
“Detectives are keen to speak with anyone, regardless of whether they have spoken to police in the past about such sightings, to ensure that no stone is left unturned.
“I would also urge any owners or drivers of black 2004 to 2006 Mercedes Benz coupes who haven’t already been spoken to by police, and there would only be a very small number as we have already tracked down hundreds of them, to come forward.”
Det-Insp Day’s appeal prompted many calls and produced valuable new evidence.
Police charged Mr Ristevski with his wife’s murder in December 2017.
His lawyers have indicated that he will plead not guilty.
Among the 29 witnesses set to be called are his daughter and stepson, in a case that seems set to continue fascinating Victorians as it makes its way through the courts.
— with Andrea Hamblin
Originally published as How the Karen Ristevski murder case intrigued us all