Body of missing Avondale Heights mum Karen Ristevski found
THE husband of murdered Melbourne mum Karen Ristevski is a suspect for homicide investigators scrutinising his wife’s death, his lawyer says.
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THE husband of murdered Melbourne mum Karen Ristevski is a suspect in her death, his lawyer says.
Prominent Melbourne lawyer Rob Stary told the Herald Sun it was clear Borce Ristevski was a suspect for homicide investigators scrutinising his wife’s death.
Mr Stary this morning said his client maintained his innocence and urged the public not to make assumptions about what had happened.
The hunt for Karen Ristevski’s killer took a major leap forward yesterday, with a body found in bush on Monday at Mt Macedon confirmed as being the Melbourne mum.
In a dramatic development in the seven-month mystery over Mrs Ristesvki’s disappearance, forensic testing on Tuesday night confirmed what police suspected almost from the moment a walker stumbled across the body under a log near the central Victorian town.
POLICE STARTING HUNT FOR KAREN’S KILLER
Missing persons squad detectives late on Tuesday visited the Ristevski family home in Oakley Drive, Avondale Heights, to deliver the devastating news.
They spoke to Karen’s husband, Borce, and their daughter, Sarah, for about an hour.
Mrs Ristevski’s relatives in Melbourne, Sydney and in New Zealand, where she was born, were phoning each other for comfort after the news broke.
Supporters then began arriving at the home — where she was last seen alive on June 29 last year — to offer condolences and leave flowers.
Among them was Borce’s brother, Vasko.
Vasko refused to comment to the Herald Sun as he left family home on Tuesday night.
Some curious neighbours walked up and down Oakley Drive, stopping at the Ristevski home.
One man shook his head and was stunned to discover the decomposed remains found yesterday was Mrs Ristevski.
“Hopefully some closure for the family,” he told the Herald Sun.
A single bunch of flowers rested at the gate of the Ristevski household last night.
At 8.35pm friends of Karen’s daughter, Sarah, left the Oakley Drive home. The pair refused to comment to the Herald Sun.
Mrs Ristevski’s brother visited the site where Karen’s body was found on Tuesday.
Stephen Williams, who was carrying a red rose in his back pocket, spent close to two hours walking the dirt track off Loch Rd in Mount Macedon.
Mr Williams, who declined to give a comment, is Mrs Ristevski’s only sibling.
The news brought sadness for neighbours but also some hope that the breakthrough would provide loved ones and the community with answers.
“We just want some closure,” one neighbour said.
Another woman said she was devastated for Mrs Ristevski’s 21-year-old daughter. “It’s so sad,” she said.
Monday’s grisly find was made in an area which had been searched by police.
The Herald Sun revealed in August last year that Mrs Ristevski’s mobile phone “pinged” off transmission towers on the Calder Freeway, 10km to the south, on the day she vanished.
The area where her remains were found is not far from the Calder Freeway, but reached via a twisting route, at times on gravel roads, suggesting whoever dumped the body may have known the area.
MOBILE PHONE OF KAREN RISTEVSKI TRACKED TO NEAR GISBORNE
Homicide detectives on Tuesday returned to the scene. State Emergency Service crews spent the day scouring the dense bushland for clues.
At one stage, a large evidence bag was removed from the scene by investigators.
Concerned locals visited the area, including a man who asked a TV cameraman to place a bouquet of flowers at the foot of a tree without revealing his identity. The man refused to talk to the media.
Another woman, who owns a block of land in Mt Macedon, came to tell police about a suspicious van seen in the area in August. She said the white van was parked unattended on the side of Loch Rd during the middle of the day.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said the van looked out of place on the isolated dirt track.
“It might not be anything, but you just never know,” she said. “I had this niggling in the back of my mind to do something.”
Resident Ian Flannery noticed a rancid smell in bushland off Loch Rd about six to eight months ago.
“Every time I’d come down with the dogs, one of the dogs would actually stop in this position most of the time,” he said.
“I could smell a pretty pungent, arid sort of smell, but I just put it down to a kangaroo carcass. But I would walk across here and wouldn’t see anything.”
Local Gregg Kennedy, who was walking his dog in the isolated bushland Tuesday morning, said people were rarely seen in this area.
“You could come out here and nobody would find you, it’s very isolated,” he said.
“It might be a car a day.
“It’s very quiet ... nothing usually happens.” Mr Kennedy said that he learned police had found a body in the area on the news on Tuesday afternoon.
“We always thought it could be that lady from Avondale Heights, she was always going to be up here somewhere,” he said.
“The police spent a lot of time up there (Macedon/Gisborne) — they wouldn’t be there for nothing.”
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.