Charlise Mutten’s mum initially believed murder accused’s account

Charlise Mutten’s mother initially believed what her fiance Justin Stein said about her daughter’s whereabouts, only realising later that something was wrong.

Charlise Mutten’s mother initially believed the account from her fiance about her daughter’s whereabouts, to only later realise something was wrong and raise the alarm.

Kallista Mutten and Justin Laurens Stein had one or more phone conversations on Thursday, January 13, the day he allegedly spent almost five hours driving around with her body in the back of his Ute before he eventually dumped the nine-year-old’s body on the banks of the Colo River.

In the statement she gave to detectives last week, Ms Mutten said Stein initially provided an explanation as to why Charlise was not at the rural estate where she had left her in his care almost 48 hours earlier.

Justin Stein has been charged with the murder of Charlise Mutten.

Charlise mum, Kallista Mutten during the search for her daughter. Picture: 9 News

“He gave a story about where the kid was and she believed him, then later on she got concerned and reports her (Charlise) missing,” a police source told The Daily Telegraph.

Ms Mutten ultimately raised the alarm about 8.20am the next day, Friday, January 14, initially sparking a major missing person’s search that ultimately resulted in Charlise’s body being found dumped in a barrel and Stein charged with murder.

Police allege Charlise died from a bullet wound caused by a small calibre firearm.

At the press conference in the wake of Stein being arrested and charged with murder, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson revealed the alleged murderer had spoken to his fiancee over the phone on a number of occasions.

Charlise Mutten’s body was dumped on the banks of the Colo River.

Charlise Mutten was nine when she died.

Those conversations, he said, came as Stein allegedly drove around northwest Sydney with Charlise’s body just metres away in the back of his Ute.

Between about 5.53pm and almost 10pm he visited multiple sites, buying supplies including 100 kilograms of sand which police allege he tried to use to help him dispose of the girl’s body.

“On Thursday afternoon, after a number of telephone conversations with the girl’s mother, to purchase a number of 20-kilogram sandbags from a hardware store,” Dep Comm Hudson said.

“(Also) to fuel a boat and then try and float that boat on the water at one of the docks in inner-Sydney, that was unsuccessful because the boat was inoperable, and then tracking that individual back to the location at which we commenced the search.”

Ms Mutten was finally able to be interviewed by detectives last Friday, having spent the week since Charlise went missing in a hospital in a fragile state.

The young girl was in the full-time custody of her grandmother in Queensland, but had been down in NSW for a visit with her biological mother and her soon-to-be stepfather over the school holidays.

Stein is due to next return to court on March 18.

Originally published as Charlise Mutten’s mum initially believed murder accused’s account