Evil stranger could have taken Karen Ristevski, says husband
THE family of missing Melbourne woman Karen Ristevski believe she may have fallen victim to a random stranger abduction.
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THE family of missing Melbourne woman Karen Ristevski believe she may have fallen victim to a random stranger abduction.
It is understood that husband Borce has told family members that the 47-year-old could have been snatched by an evil predator.
Mrs Ristevski vanished on June 29.
The new theory comes amid fears from Karen’s aunt that her niece has been murdered and “discarded like a piece of rubbish”.
Patricia Gray said the search for Ms Ristevski had been turned into a “circus” due to the statements of other family members, including Borce’s brother Vasko and stepson Anthony Rickard, according to reports.
“Someone has done something to her... we need to find out where Karen has been discarded like a piece of rubbish,” Ms Gray said.
In other developments, a shovel found at the $1.1 million Avondale Heights Ristevski family home has undergone forensic testing.
And detectives searching for the missing mum in Melbourne’s northwest have examined CCTV cameras from the Toolern Vale General Store and taken footage from 60 cameras at two BP service stations at Calder Park.
Toolern Vale General Store manager Tania Zeine said detectives were tight lipped when they asked to view the CCTV footage.
“About a week ago we had two police officers come in here asking to look at our security cameras, but they didn’t tell us what it was for,” Ms Zeine said.
“My mother said they were here for about half an hour going through the footage and then they left.”
Police have also combed the same road where murdered Irish woman Jill Meagher was found. Residents of Black Hill Rd, where Ms Meagher’s body was found buried in a shallow grave in September 2012, say police on trail bikes were spotted scouring the 10km road linking Diggers Rest to Gisborne South.
“They were riding very slowly on the side of the road and they kept stopping like they were searching for something,” one resident said.
Police have checked dams in the Diggers Rest, Toolern Vale and Gisborne areas and have appealed to residents to check their properties.
As exclusively revealed on Saturday, mobile phone data shows Mrs Ristevski’s phone was detected near Gisborne, 40km northwest of their home, hours after her husband Borce claimed she stormed off after a row over money.
Mr Ristevski’s phone was detected near Diggers Rest, about 20km from their house.
Mr Ristevski, 52, told police he was driving his wife’s 2004 Mercedes-Benz to a garage to fix a faulty fuel gauge before the fault corrected itself and he returned home.
Mobile phone data indicated that Mr Ristevski’s phone was switched off for 2½ hours on the day she vanished.
Mr Ristevski is understood to have told police to direct all further inquiries over his wife’s disappearance to his solicitors, Stary Norton Halphen.