Heartbroken mum reveals son’s final moments before body found in Maribyrnong River
A heartbroken mother has revealed how her son’s final moments unfolded before his body was found in the Maribyrnong River, just an hour before the tragic discovery of an alleged murder victim.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A heartbroken mother has revealed how her son’s final moments unfolded before his body was found in the Maribyrnong River.
In a grim coincidence, 20-year-old Colombian national Diego Alejandro Baron Julio was pulled from the water just over an hour before the body of 85-year-old Lolene Whitehand was found in the same river wrapped in plastic on July 14.
Speaking exclusively to the Herald Sun from the nation’s capital of Bogotá, Mr Julio’s mother Anirley Julio detailed the panic that set in when contact with her son was suddenly cut off just hours before his body was discovered.
The pair spent the evening of Saturday July 13 catching up with one another over the phone, when the call suddenly dropped about 9pm after Mr Julio said he felt unwell.
“He told me that he felt very bad, that he didn’t know what was happening to him,” Ms Julio said.
“I listened to him as he became agitated and worried, but the communication was cut off and from that moment on I did not communicate with my son again.
“I did not know that it would be the last time I would hear his voice.”
A “distressed” Ms Julio contacted police in Flemington to report her son missing several hours later after failing to again reach him on the phone.
After Ms Julio raised the alarm with police, she took to Facebook to plead for help from other Colombian nationals living in Melbourne.
Volunteers then rallied at the Kensington home Mr Julio shared with housemates Jesse Stagoll and Sebastian to launch a search.
But by about 9am that morning, a passer-by had found what would several days later be identified as the body of the missing 20-year-old floating in the river in Footscray.
“It was very sad and unexpected. It has destroyed us, it is incomprehensible,” Ms Julio said.
Mr Julio moved to Melbourne from Colombia in 2022 to study English and had plans to return home to see his family next year.
He had a casual job unloading merchandising.
Ms Julio remembered her son as a “happy and charismatic” young man who was popular among his friends in Melbourne.
She said Mr Julio was an active man who enjoyed playing guitar, going for walks, jogging and boxing.
“He was a good friend, a good son and an excellent person who was full of love to give and share,” she said.
A passer-by discovered Mr Julio’s body shortly before a fisherman found Ms Whitehand’s corpse in the water near Smithfield Rd in Flemington about 10.30am that same morning.
Milena Bogojevska, Ms Whitehand’s neighbour, has been charged with murdering the “sweet and friendly” elderly woman and faced court this week.
A fundraiser helped pay for Mr Julio’s body to be repatriated back to Colombia following a funeral in Fitzroy North on Thursday.
‘We’re broken’: Mum breaks silence over Hannah’s brutal alleged murder
Hannah McGuire was on the cusp of attaining her teaching degree when her body was found last year. Now, her mother shares the touching way Hannah’s dreams will still come true as her ex awaits trial over her alleged murder.
Police say fatal stabbing in Lyndhurst was ‘targeted’ attack
A man who was brutally stabbed in the car park of a shopping centre in Melbourne’s southeast knew his attackers, police say, as they flagged fears of the possibility of retribution.