Police claim Charlise Mutten’s mum was living in caravan before alleged murder

Charlise Mutten’s mother was staying 80km away from a lavish wedding venue in the NSW Blue Mountains where the nine-year-old was allegedly murdered. See the photos.

Charlise Mutten’s mother was staying at a ramshackle caravan park on the secluded banks of the Hawkesbury River when police allege her fiance murdered the nine-year-old schoolgirl more than an hour’s drive away.

Kallista Mutten is understood to have been staying at the Riviera Ski Park at Lower Portland in the lead-up to her daughter’s death last week, with police swarming the park over the weekend as part of their search for answers.

Charlise Mutten was holidaying in NSW when she went missing last week. Her body was found on Tuesday night.

Kallista Mutten has been under medical supervision since her daughter’s body was found. Picture: 9 News

The caravan park is 80km east of Wildenstein, the lavish wedding venue where Charlise was allegedly murdered by Justin Laurens Stein between 7pm on January 11 and 10am on January 12.

Residents at the park said they believed Charlise and her alleged killer Stein even joined Ms Mutten there in the time leading up to Charlise’s death.

“The daughter was there for a couple of days, she was playing around with the daughter of a friend of mine,” one witness said.

Cabins lined up along the Hawkesbury River at Riviera Ski Park. Picture: John Grainger

The park is 80km east of Wildenstein, where Charlise was last seen. Picture: John Grainger. Watermarked image

The owner of a nearby caravan park in the town said detectives had been seen taping off a caravan near the water’s edge and carrying evidence bags out over the weekend.

When the owner of Riviera Ski Park was ­approached for comment he said: “Why do you want to talk to me? I have spoken to police, f*** off.”

It comes as The Daily Telegraph sheds more light on the movements of little Charlise, her mother and her alleged murderer over her final days.

A ute towing a boat similar to that police allege Stein tried to use to dump Charlise’s body was captured on CCTV passing the popular Tractor 828 cafe at Ebenezer about 2.20am last Friday, January 14; six hours before Ms Mutten made the call to triple-0 to report her daughter missing.

The gates of the Riviera Ski Park, where police allege Charlise Mutten’s mum was staying during the schoolgirl’s final hours. Picture: John Grainger

A left turn off Sackville Rd onto West Portland Rd takes drivers up towards the Colo River, where Charlise’s body was found late on Tuesday.

Locals in the area said a man believed to be Stein had been seen travelling with Charlise around the area in the days before she was killed, even using the ferry to travel across into Lower Portland, where Ms Mutten was ­staying.
One ferry driver said his colleague claimed to have spoken to the “chatty” little girl, but noted “the bloke with her wouldn’t look him in the eye and just kept staring straight ahead”.

Police are also understood to have seized CCTV from the ferries that ship cars across the Hawkesbury River at Lower Portland and ­Sackville.

Detectives were also seen on Thursday visiting businesses along Bells Line of Road, which leads from the Colo River towards Mount Wilson.

Charlise’s trip to NSW to stay with her once-jailed mother for the school holidays was not due to a court order, it can also be revealed.

The decision to let the Tweed Heads schoolgirl stay with her mother and soon-to-be stepfather two weeks ago was made by her grandmother in Coolangatta, who was given sole custody of Charlise in 2018 while ­former ice addict Ms Mutten was in jail.

It is understood that there were no court orders to let the mother spend any time with her daughter but any visits were left up to her grandmother. The distressed grandmother could not be contacted on Thursday.

There were also no court orders for the little girl to spend time with her biological father, who lives in northern NSW.