Police pursue answers to questions in tragic Charlise Mutten case after murder charge

Major questions hang over the tragic Charlise Mutten investigation, with police claiming it has been difficult to speak with her mum.

Police say it has been difficult to speak with Charlise Mutten’s mother, as they try to uncover details that are crucial to the investigation into her death.

The nine-year-old was on holiday with her mum Kallista Mutten and stepdad Justin Laurens Stein at a multimillion dollar wedding estate in NSW’s Blue Mountains.

At 8.20am on Friday, January 14, she was reported missing, prompting a five-day ground and air search around the Mt Wilson property.

Late on Tuesday night, investigators discovered a barrel dumped near the Colo River, about an hour from the property.

Inside the barrel was the body of a child. The body is yet to be formally identified but Acting Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the remains were “consistent with the missing nine-year-old”.

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Charlise Mutten was reported missing from a property in Mt Wilson on Friday morning. Picture: Facebook

Justin Stein was charged with murder after a child’s body was found in a barrel on the Colo River. Picture: Facebook

At about 8.30pm that same night, police attended a unit on Riley Street, Surry Hills, and

arrested 31-year-old Stein, who is engaged to Charlise’s mother.

He was taken to Surry Hills Police Station and charged with murder.

There are still many questions hanging over the case, with police having been unable to formally interview Ms Mutten, who has been held in hospital following a medical episode.

On Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson said it had been “difficult” to speak with Charlise’s mum in the lead up to Stein’s murder charge.

“It has been difficult to approach and contact her but at some stage hopefully when doctors allow, we will be talking further with her,” he said.

The nine-year-old usually lived with her grandmother in Coolangatta, Queensland, but was spending two weeks with Ms Mutten and Stein during the school holidays.

Charlise's mum Kallista Mutten. Picture: Facebook

Ms Mutten has been in hospital since suffering a medical episode. Picture: 9 News

Ms Mutten has had previous run-ins with the law that were unrelated to the current investigation.

Last week, it was revealed Ms Mutten was jailed in 2017 for dangerous driving causing death and driving with an illicit drug in her system.

In 2017, Ms Mutten told the Lismore District Court she had used the drug ice before she got behind the wheel of a car and tried to recklessly overtake a semi-trailer on the Tweed Valley Way at Condong in September 2016.

The manoeuvre caused her to lose control of the car and crash, resulting in the death of her passenger Karen “Kaz” Bunch after three weeks on life support.

At the time, Ms Mutten admitted to the court she used “two to three points a day” of the drug ice.

News.com.au is not suggesting Ms Mutten is a current drug user.

Stepdad’s alleged phone call with mum

Deputy Commissioner Hudson revealed police will allege in court that Stein had held phone conversations with Ms Mutten in the lead up to the body being discovered.

“[There were] a number of telephone conversations with the girl’s mother, to purchase a number of 20kg sandbags from a hardware store, to fuel a boat and then try and float that boat on the water at one of the docks in inner Sydney,” he said.

Police will allege they then were able to track his movements, through GPS and CCTV, back to the location along the Colo River where police commenced the search on Tuesday afternoon.

Detectives will also allege Stein drove around Sydney for up to five hours with Charlise’s body in the back of his boat while he tried to work out where to dump her, according to an exclusive report by The Daily Telegraph.

The body of a child was found near Colo Park along the Colo River on Tuesday night. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

Homicide detectives allegedly found a blue tarpaulin in the back of the boat, which was inoperable.

Police will allege in court that Stein ended up hiding the heavy barrel containing Charlise’s body in dense bushland after struggling to dump it in the Colo River.

Court documents revealed the little girl was allegedly killed between 7pm on Tuesday January 11 and 10am January 12.

Police were not informed of her disappearance until Friday morning and, even then, they were told she had been last seen some time on the afternoon of Thursday, January 13.

Deputy Commissioner Hudson told reporters that the investigation was ongoing and, at this stage, there was no evidence to support anything other than that the accused acted alone.

“However, it’s still early days in the investigation,” he said.

Charlise was staying at this Mt Wilson property with her mother and stepdad for two weeks during the school holidays. Picture: 9 News

Acting Commissioner Webb told reporters yesterday that the cause of Charlise’s death was yet to be determined.

“The search will remain ongoing to look for any clues to help us identify the cause of the death,” she said.

“I encourage people to come forward with information. There are still many elements of this investigation that we have to work through to determine exactly what happened from the time the young girl was reported missing up until last night when those remains were found.”

Alleged murderer has ‘long-term mental health issues’

Stein briefly appeared at Central Local Court on Wednesday from the cells at Surry Hills police station, still wearing the grey Everlast jumper he was arrested in overnight.

His lawyer did not apply for bail but told the court he was suffering longstanding mental health issues and was worried for his safety while in custody on remand.

Vision regarding the arrest of Stein in Surry Hills. Picture: NSW Police

“Asking for recommendation for a full justice health assessment and he be supplied with his prescribed medication,” the lawyer said.

A police prosecutor requested an adjournment of 13 weeks for a brief of evidence due to “the complexities of the matter”.

“We require additional time for the order to be served and I ask for an additional four weeks,” the prosecutor told the court.

“Eight weeks wouldn’t be sufficient for all the evidence to be served in that time.”

Magistrate Robert Williams declined the request and adjourned the matter for the scheduled eight weeks.

– with NCA NewsWire

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