iPad seized from Karen Ristevski’s home includes suspicious Google searches
UPDATE: The brother of Karen Ristevski’s husband was recently seen in bushland close to where her body was found, while an iPad seized from her home has revealed suspicious Google searches.
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THE brother of the prime suspect in Karen Ristevski’s murder has recently been spotted in bushland close to where her body was found.
Vasko Ristevski, brother of Mrs Ristevski’s husband Borce, was seen lurking metres away from where the 47-year-old’s body was found in a shallow grave at Mt Macedon in February. Mr Ristevski was confronted by journalist Martin King as he quickly left the site and got into his car.
In an advertisement for Monday’s A Current Affair, Vasko was filmed heading back towards his truck parked in the isolated bushland as journalist Martin King asked, “Can you tell us what you’re doing here?”
Mr Ristevski declined to answer.
The revelation comes as police close in on arresting the killer of the 47-year-old mum.
An iPad seized from Karen Ristevski’s home includes a Google search on how police can detect traces of blood.
Another suspicious search found in the iPad’s history canvasses how mobile phone data can be deleted and how police might track phones.
The Herald Sun can reveal that the searches — discovered on the iPad following a sweep of the Avondale Heights family home last year — are considered key to the case.
The Herald Sun revealed on Friday that CCTV footage shows what police believe is Ms Ristevski’s distinctive black Mercedes being driven through Diggers Rest on the day she went missing.
Her body was found at nearby Mt Macedon on February 20.
It is not clear from the footage who was driving the car, but the Herald Sun has been told police yesterday received a significant number of calls and are working through new information.
Missing persons squad Detective Inspector Tim Day said he was confident of catching Ms Ristevski’s killer.
“Nothing is ever certain, but I have every confidence in the investigation,” he said. “And I have every confidence that it’s a matter of time.”
The Herald Sun can also reveal a device sent by detectives to a specialist in the United States last year was a GPS navigator belonging to the Ristevski family.
Investigators hoped the US expert could pull data from the device to shine a light on the movements of Ms Ristevski’s black Mercedes-Benz SLK coupe on June 29 last year, the day she vanished.
Last August, the Herald Sun reported police had obtained evidence from the phones of Karen and husband Borce Ristevski that showed the phones had “pinged” off transmission towers on the Calder Freeway on the day she disappeared.
Mr Ristevski’s phone was last tracked near Diggers Rest and Ms Ristevski’s phone was tracked near Gisborne. His phone was also switched off for two hours on the day.
Mr Ristevski has denied having anything to do with his wife’s death, although the day after her body was discovered his lawyer, Rob Stary, revealed he was being treated as a suspect by police.
Det-Insp Day told the Herald Sun this week: “He remains a suspect. Whether there are other suspects or not I’m not going to comment on.”
Mr Ristevski was nowhere to be seen at his Avondale Heights home on Friday.
The year-long investigation has frustrated investigators.
The missing persons squad has had control of the probe and has recently undergone a change in personnel, with fresh eyes looking at the high-profile case.
Police released the new images this week in the hope it will jog the memories of people who were in the Diggers Rest area around 11am on June 29 or near Mt Macedon about an hour later.
Mr Ristevski, 53, told police he had taken his wife’s Mercedes for a drive that day but said he only went as far as the Calder Park Raceway before turning back home.
The footage showed a number of cars by the Diggers Rest railway crossing at the same time and police are calling on these drivers to come forward.
The cars include: a white Ford Ranger single-cab ute towing a dual-axle trailer with a yellow mini-excavator on it; a black Holden Commodore ute with a black canopy; a maroon Nissan Patrol wagon with a black roof rack and a spare tyre fixed on its rear door; a white Honda Jazz wagon, and; a silver Kia Rio wagon.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or crimestoppersvic.com.au