Slain woman found dead near Melbourne tram stop ‘stalked’ by killer
Police have vowed to “saturate” the area where an Israeli student was murdered near a Melbourne tram stop until her killer is found.
A young woman found dead near a tram stop in Melbourne’s north has been named as an Israeli student aged in her 20s.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz named the student as Aiia Maasarwe, 21, who was in Melbourne on a study program and was understood to have been on her way home from a comedy show when she was killed.
According to her social media pages, the talented student had been studying Chinese and English at Shanghai University, and then spent several months in Melbourne on an overseas program at La Trobe University.
Passers-by discovered a body in scrub near a tram stop close to a shopping centre at Bundoora on Wednesday morning.
Homicide detectives believe she may have been stalked in the lead-up to her death and they are investigating the possibility that she was also sexually assaulted as her clothes were in disarray.
Victorian police believe the exchange student was attacked about 12:10am on Wednesday — when she was a little over one kilometre from home.
“We’ve got an ongoing effort to saturate the area as much as we possibly can,” Superintendent Tony Ryan told ABC News of his team’s efforts to ease the distress of the local community.
“We’ve got uniform cars, we’re supported by the operational response unit, we’ve got detectives, we’ve got our community police, we’ve got transit working on the tram lines.
“As part of our security in the area we’ll conduct an audit on it and see if we can get some immediate improvements.”
Disturbingly, Ms Maasarwe’s uncle, Rame Maasarwe, said Aiia was speaking to her sister using FaceTime until “her phone fell” on the night she was killed.
“She was talking to her sister and seemed okay, but then her phone fell and then she heard different voices,” Mr Masarwe told the Herald Sun.
Ms Maasarwe’s friends also became worried when she stopped responding to messages on their WhatsApp group.
Detectives say it is likely Ms Maasarwe had been travelling on the route 86 tram from Docklands overnight.
They have released CCTV images of Aiia which shows the clothing she was wearing that night, in the hope someone saw her on the night and can help police track her exact movements.
Investigators have also released images of a T-shirt and a cap which were found at the scene.
The T-shirt is described as being dark coloured on the shoulders and sleeves, then a light grey in the body.
The cap is black in colour and has “1986” printed on the front.
“We are treating it as suspicious. It’s apparent or it seems that the female has been assaulted,” Inspector Andrew Stamper told reporters near the scene on Wednesday.
Another of Ms Maasarwe’s uncles, Abed Katane, told Israeli news outlet Haaretz her family was in shock.
“She was an excellent student, full of life, and was in a country that was not dangerous at all, to say the least. And despite that, we get this incredibly painful news,” he said.
“It’s the kind of thing you never expect.”
Her father has left Israel for Melbourne in a bid to arrange her body’s return home, Mr Katane told the newspaper.
Israeli media reports that Ms Maasarwe was from Baqa al-Gharbiyye, a predominantly Arab city in the Haifa district in northern Israel.
Her uncle, Rame, told The Agethe talented student was a friendly person who liked to travel — adding that she had done tandem skydive along the Great Ocean Road and visited local sites including the Shrine of Remembrance.
Her final Instagram post, uploaded on January 7, shows her sitting on a ledge overlooking Victoria’s Grampians National Park.
“She’s positive, she likes to have fun, she’s a very friendly person you know. She’s a good sister,” he said. “I was very proud of her, she was a very good person, a very loving person.
“She liked to discover new things, see new places. She travelled all over the world.”
Flowers and handwritten tributes have been left by mourners at the scene of the tragic discovery.
One note read: “My heart aches that you were not safe in our community. You are loved.”
“Everyone has the right to get home safety,” another read.
La Trobe University vice-chancellor John Dewar said the university had “intensified” its security following the attack.
Officers reportedly spoke with residents on Thursday to determine how Ms Maasarwe died and what led to her body being left near the tram stop.
“We would ask for anyone that may have dashcam footage, CCTV or may have seen anything here that could be a small piece in the jigsaw puzzle to contact Crimestoppers,” Insp Stamper said.
Detectives are keen to speak to anyone who travelled on the route 86 tram, particularly between 11pm on Tuesday and 1am on Wednesday.
Police are investigating all lines of inquiry, including whether the attack was random and if Ms Maasarwe was followed.
— with wires
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