Will mobile phone ‘pings’ lead police to the body of Karen Ristevski?

FOR weeks, relatives of missing Melbourne mum Karen Ristevski have been throwing up bizarre theories. Police hope science will lead them to her.

Sarah Ristevski (left) with parents Borce and Karen in happier times

FOR weeks, relatives of missing Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski have been throwing up increasingly bizarre theories as to her fate.

The 47-year-old was last seen at her Avondale Heights home in Melbourne at 10am on June 29 and has failed to contact loved ones or access phone or bank accounts ever since.

Her husband Borce Ristevski said his wife went for a walk to “clear her head” after an argument over finances and has reportedly told family she may have been snatched by a stranger.

Last week, the missing woman’s brother-in-law Vasco (Borce’s brother) said he believed the 47-year-old had fled overseas using a fake passport.

He based this on his own suspicion that Mrs Ristevski was so embarrassed by “rumours” of an alleged affair with Borce’s estranged, ice-addicted son Anthony Rickard that she staged her own disappearance.

Karen Ristevski (left) shared this photograph of herself with husband Borce in 2013. It was the last public post she made to her Facebook account her public post to he Facebook post

Mr Rickard has claimed Mrs Ristevski told him she planned to leave Borce for him after their daughter Sarah’s 21st birthday earlier this year.

Mrs Ristevski’s aunt Patricia Gray rubbished the claims in an interview with The Australian at the weekend, saying the family “circus” undermined the search and declaring her belief that her niece had been murdered.

Sarah Ristevski has reportedly joined her father in ceasing to co-operate with investigators, whom they have all but accused of executing a smear campaign.

The investigation took another sensational turn at the weekend when the Herald Sun revealed that “pings” from Mr and Mrs Ristevski’s respective mobile phones had been detected by transmitter towers along Melbourne’s Calder Highway on June 29, the day of her disappearance.

Mrs Ristevski’s mobile phone was reportedly tracked near Gisborne, 40km northwest of the family home.

Mobile phone pings that could help explain what happened to Karen Ristevski.

One of Mr Rickard’s bizarre Facebook posts

Karen Ristevski’s stepson, Anthony Rickard, claims he was having an affair with her. Picture: Alex Coppel

The data also revealed that Mr Ristevski’s mobile phone was switched off for about two hours that day.

The new leads have led detectives to concentrate their search on rural areas in Melbourne’s north west.

Detectives have taken CCTV footage from 60 cameras at two service stations at Calder Park and are also studying video from Toolern Vale General Store because of its proximity to the ping detected at Diggers Rest.

They have also twice searched the Maribrnong River near the couple’s Avondale Heights home as well as the Toolern Vale dam and Barmah National Park, where the Ristevskis regularly holidayed.

IS BORCE RISTEVSKI TELLING POLICE EVERYTHING HE KNOWS?

Borce Ristevski pictured at his home in Avondale Heights on Sunday July 31

Police have requested security camera footage from petrol stations at Calder Park and from the Toolern Vale General Store (above). Picture: Jake Nowakowski

From the moment his wife vanished, Borce Ristevski has been the focus of police questioning.

The family cut short a press conference early on in the investigation after a reporter asked him if he had killed his wife.

He stopped co-operating with police following an July 8 interview with detectives in which he denied having anything to do with her disappearance.

Sarah Ristevski, 21, has also reportedly severed contact with detectives in support of her father

father.

Even Mr Rickard, who has posted a series of disturbing and violent messages on Facebook — most of them directed at his father and his “fake” marriage — has told police he does not believe Mr Ristevski harmed his wife.

It has emerged that there are a number of inconsistencies in Mr Ristevski’s version of events.

Borce Ristevski and his daughter Sarah are now both refusing to speak directly to police. Picture: Sarah Matray

Patricia Gray, Karen Ristevski’s aunt. Hollie Adams/The Australian

According to the Herald Sun, when he was initially questioned about his movements on June 29, he failed to mention that he had taken his wife’s 2004 Mercedes Benz for a drive down the Calder Hwy in order to “assess a faulty fuel gauge”.

He later told police that the problem had fixed itself after the car hit a bump in the road and that he subsequently turned around and went home.

The Australian reported that Mr Riestevski told police he went for a drive just half an hour after his wife walked out of the house and was on the road from 10.30am until about midday.

The paper also claimed Mr Ristevski received a request to work from ride-sharing company Uber but was unable to confirm whether he accepted the job.

His claim that he saw Mrs Ristevski leave the house cannot be corroborated by any other witnesses and he has since stated that security cameras at the family property stopped working months before his wife went missing.

Mr Ristevski’s lawyer Katarina Ljubicic said her client had not been asked to make any further statements to police beyond the two he had already completed.

“He’s not been asked to make another statement and he’s fully co-operated with police,” Ms Ljubicic told The Australian.