What we know about Karen Ristevski’s disappearance
KAREN Ristevski is Australia’s gone girl, whose bizarre disappearance has remained a mystery for eight months. But will there soon be answers?
KAREN Ristevski is Australia’s gone girl. Her bizarre disappearance has remained a mystery for eight months.
She had a life many would envy. She had a luxury $1.1 million home in Avondale Heights, in Melbourne’s northwest, a career, family and social life.
It was a shock when somebody who seemingly had it all possibly faced something sinister.
She’s been missing since June last year, and there has been speculation about what happened to her.
Now, a badly decomposed body has been found in Victorian bushland in Mount Macedon and her family are preparing for the tragic news it could be Ms Ristevski.
The body was found about 25km from where police conducted a search for the mum just months ago.
THE DISAPPEARANCE
Ms Ristevski was last seen about 10am on June 29, 2016.
She had an argument with her husband Borce about financial issues and left their home to clear her head. Her husband said at the time it was something she had done often, but on this day she did not come home.
Her husband and daughter Sarah made a tearful plea to media to call for anybody to help find Ms Ristevski. Her daughter clutched a tissue in one hand, a picture of her mum in the other.
The mother took her handbag and wallet with her when she left the home, but the effort by police to find them has so far failed. They scoured bushland behind her Avondale Heights home, but there were no clues as to where she could be.
The family was believed to be in a tough financial position and risked losing their home.
It was revealed in July last year the family had been in about $600,000 in debt for the past decade.
Ms Ristevski, 47, ran Bella Bleu fashion boutiques at the Watergardens Town Centre in Taylors Lakes in Melbourne’s northwest and another store in Broadmeadows in Melbourne’s north.
The Australian reported property records showed a shopping centre lodged a caveat over the Ristevski family home early last year, believed to be due to unpaid rent.
A caveat is a document that can tag another person’s land and stop it from being sold or transferred into another name.
THE QUESTIONS
About a month after her disappearance, Ms Ristevski’s husband was shocked by a reporter who interrogated him about his missing wife.
The Channel 7 reporter boldly asked if he killed his wife.
Ms Ristevski’s aunt Patricia, who was at the press conference, was distressed by the question.
“That’s really not appropriate at the moment ... honestly, I have to say, that is really inappropriate ... this is about Karen, this is not about anything else, this is about finding Karen,” she said.
A Victoria Police spokesman told AAP they interviewed Mr Ristevski as part of an ongoing investigation into Ms Ristevski’s disappearance and he was released pending further inquiries.
The family continued to speak out following the disappearance and soon after, a family feud was aired on Facebook by her ice-addicted stepson, Mr Ristevski’s son, Anthony Rickard.
He made wild claims he had an affair with his stepmother and they had plans to run away together.
He heavily criticised his father on Facebook and called him a coward. He said his father watched him do drugs and “allowed Karen to continue her fantasy of leaving u (sic) to run away with me”.
The stepson has posted a number of violent comments and images on his Facebook page.
One says “so many idiots, so few bullets” while another hints he is facing problems, but it’s “nothing violence won’t fix”.
There are many unanswered questions when it comes to Ms Ristevski’s disappearance but news.com.au is not suggesting Mr Rickard was involved in any way.
Police have had grave concerns for the missing mother for a while, despite her brother-in-law suggesting she could have run away.
He told the Herald Sun he believes she fled to China or the US using a fake passport.
Ms Ristevski’s close friend slammed suggestions she ran away, but also did not know why anyone would harm such a “kind, gentle soul”.
The friend said she would never leave her daughter, and alarm bells went off for her when the missing mother didn’t attempt to contact her daughter to let her know where she was.
“Her daughter was her life. Even if she went to clear her head and she didn’t return right then, I guarantee she would have made a phone call to her daughter to say, ‘I’m going to be away for a night or two’,” the friend said.
“When her daughter asked me to let her know if I heard from her because she ‘didn’t come home yesterday’, I thought maybe she is cooling down. But then I really thought about it and knew she would have made contact.
“She’s a really gentle soul, she’s never annoyed anyone from my knowledge … She’s so happy-go-lucky and wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
Ms Ristevski’s 21-year-old daughter remained quiet about her mother’s disappearance while family around her speculated.
She was seeking help from the Missing Persons Advocacy Network, run by Loren O’Keeffe whose brother, Daniel O’Keeffe, mysteriously went missing in 2011.
She works to help reunite people with their loved ones.
Ms O’Keeffe spoke of the speculation, and said missing persons was always a topic of human interest.
“It’s dramatic, mysterious, highly emotional,” she said.
“People are naturally intrigued by how anyone can seemingly vanish into thin air.”
Ms O’Keeffe told news.com.au Ms Ristevski’s case attracted speculation because she challenged the public’s stereotype.
THE INVESTIGATION
Police have been working tirelessly for eight months to find answers about what happened to Ms Ristevski.
In December police conducted a two-day search for the missing mother at Gisborne and Toolern Vale in Melbourne’s northwest.
Police left Toolern Vale with evidence bags and reports suggested they were items found in paddocks and bushlands that could be linked to the disappearance.
Detective Inspector Stephen Dennis said at the time police were confident they would find out what happened to Ms Ristevski.
Police have previously searched Black Hill Road in Gisborne South, the same place Jill Meagher was buried in a shallow grave after she was raped and murdered in 2012.
The search began after phone towers tracked mobile phones, belonging to Ms Ristevski and her husband, in the area.
The Herald Sun reported locals had also claimed to see Mr Ristevski’s brother at an abandoned restaurant near the search area, that burned down three years ago.
Now the discovery of human remains, about 25km from the search area, has revived the mystery of Ms Ristevski, with speculation it could be her.
A bushwalker discovered a badly decomposed body under a log in Mount Macedon, north of Melbourne, on Monday.
“Obviously you fear the worst but we will just have to wait and see if it’s her,” nephew Chris Ristevski told the Herald Sun.
“It would be a bit surprising because the police told us they were searching in the Diggers Rest area.”
Police are not commenting on speculation. The remains will be taken for forensic testing to try to determine the identity and the cause of death.
— with AAP
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