Found Deceased Australia - Karen Ristevski, 47, Melbourne, Vic, 29 June 2016 - #2

[Bohemian]

AND everyone thought it was Bernie.

Yes, Jill Meagher's husband too. That's why Charlie Bezzina's, the ex-detective who worked on a gangland murder, statements stood out to me in the Leader's article:

'Mr Bezzina, now the senior integrity adviser at Greyhound Racing Victoria, said the fact the 47-year-old’s mobile phone was off and bank accounts left untouched raised serious concerns.

But he said it wasn’t “beyond the realms of possibility” that she may have been abducted.

“While you always live in hope — we know people do get abducted, we know people are held captive — the idea is slim,” he said.'

“If she wanted to disappear … you would think by this stage she’d say, ‘Look, I want to leave the household, I’m with friends, I’m not telling you where I am’,” Mr Bezzina said.

“If she was legitimately wanting to remove herself she would have contacted someone by now.”

He said it was easy to point the finger at family members but, as in the case of Jill Meagher and missing Boronia schoolgirl Siriyakorn “Bung” Siraboon, those avenues weren’t always correct.

“(With Mr Ristevski), he’d go up the street and people would be looking at him sideways,” Mr Bezzina said.

“At the end of the day it’s easy to make accusations but ... what you allege, you’ve got to prove.”'

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/...a/news-story/3434f33ce5411400e67936771fda0cde

 

[Puggle]

For those who might remember Kerry Whelan a Sydney wealthy wife who was abducted by an acquaintance, Bruce Burrell. (Who died today aged 62). He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is could someone think this family was wealthy and as someone said on WS she liked to live like she had money. It happened to Kerry so maybe it's a possibility.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...d/news-story/aae28d611512977d7addb5a22b242de1

Your right.....there are so many possibilities..... my mind is swimming...and anyones thoughts could proove correct.

I trully hope police are on top of this.....

 

[they'll get you]

Here we go boys and girls !

<modsnip>

 

[Pepper77]

I have been thinking about the police using the word "courage" in regard to seeking information on this case and wondering if they are looking at a bigger picture than just Karen's immediate family.

Former Detective Charlie Bezzina's recent comment that their is a "slim" chance Karen is being held captive and Borce's claim that Police have asked him not to comment make me wonder if there is any possibility of gang or underworld involvement.

Probably googling their surname made me think along these lines because of another high profile case.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/...k=7d7425f1ef5224e4ad14fe3bae4d65f2-1470310473

BBM

That's (sort of) what I was alluding to (well, thought anyway) when I suggested they might have visited loan sharks (underworld figures) for money to keep their businesses going. It could've even been a loan to keep the Australian Tax Office at bay (seeing as there's no mention of a debt to them [and the ATO would want any money owed fast, I'm sure]).

 

[SouthAussie]

I have been thinking about the police using the word "courage" in regard to seeking information on this case and wondering if they are looking at a bigger picture than just Karen's immediate family.

Former Detective Charlie Bezzina's recent comment that their is a "slim" chance Karen is being held captive and Borce's claim that Police have asked him not to comment make me wonder if there is any possibility of gang or underworld involvement.

Probably googling their surname made me think along these lines because of another high profile case.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/...k=7d7425f1ef5224e4ad14fe3bae4d65f2-1470310473

Just jumping off your post Oona &#8230;.

On a side note: Charlie Bezzina had an unhappy split from VicPol. The police commissioner moved him and a couple of other detectives out of the elite homicide squad. He is apparently quite bitter about that and he has included it in his autobiography. I am not sure what happened with the book, as he could have been charged with &#8216;trying to bring the police force into disrepute&#8217; for publishing it.

He is now a paid columnist for the Herald Sun, as well as doing a few other things.
I don&#8217;t know what that means about his opinions, if it has affected them, and he certainly will have insight into Homicide investigations. But I thought it was worth a mention.


Charlie is now a Herald Sun Columnist and expert commentator in Police/Law/Court issues, as well as a media commentator.
http://www.icmi.com.au/charlie-bezzina

Charlie Bezzina, a former high-profile Victorian homicide detective, has given a scathing account of the management process that ended his career and the careers of other senior officers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-09-16/ex-cop-warned-over-tell-all-autobiography/2263706

 

[Bohemian]

Just jumping off your post Oona ….

On a side note: Charlie Bezzina had an unhappy split from VicPol. The police commissioner moved him and a couple of other detectives out of the elite homicide squad. He is apparently quite bitter about that and he has included it in his autobiography. I am not sure what happened with the book, as he could have been charged with ‘trying to bring the police force into disrepute’ for publishing it.

He is now a paid columnist for the Herald Sun, as well as doing a few other things.
I don’t know what that means about his opinions, if it has affected them, and he certainly will have insight into Homicide investigations. But I thought it was worth a mention.


Charlie is now a Herald Sun Columnist and expert commentator in Police/Law/Court issues, as well as a media commentator.
http://www.icmi.com.au/charlie-bezzina

Charlie Bezzina, a former high-profile Victorian homicide detective, has given a scathing account of the management process that ended his career and the careers of other senior officers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-09-16/ex-cop-warned-over-tell-all-autobiography/2263706

Off topic but in the interests of balance, Charlie Bezzina was a member of VICPOL when there was a quasi-'turf war' between Sir Ken Jones and Simon Overland, among others. He wasn't on his Pat Malone in being scathing of the management or bitter about being moved out of the elite Homicide Squad. The majority of VICPOL were unhappy at that time:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/top-cop-overlands-fall-from-grace/story-fn6b3v4f-1226077400141

 

[frogwell]

AND everyone thought it was Bernie.

I still do.

 

[tiddles24]

I am not ruling out suicide............in one of the interviews, BR stated that on the day before Karen disappeared, she had had a bad day at the shop which started the argument.............I feel with the 30th June being the end of the financial year, the financial problems were her greatest concern and she could not see a way out..........
I don't think AR would be capable of doing it............Overhead costs being shop rent, tax, public liability insurance, staff wages etc. etc. can cause many shop owners extreme anxiety to breaking point, remembering that Karen has had huge debt hanging over her head for many years in the past...........Retail sales throughout Australia are at an all-time low which doesn't help as well..........I have been in that situation so I feel that I can relate to Karen in this regard............Sadly, my beautiful father took his own life at only 50 years of age.............Suicide is still a possibility.....MOO !!!

 

[SouthAussie]

Off topic but in the interests of balance, Charlie Bezzina was a member of VICPOL when there was a quasi-'turf war' between Sir Ken Jones and Simon Overland, among others. He wasn't on his Pat Malone in being scathing of the management or bitter about being moved out of the elite Homicide Squad. The majority of VICPOL were unhappy at that time:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/top-cop-overlands-fall-from-grace/story-fn6b3v4f-1226077400141

I think the point that I was trying to make is that while Charlie is speaking publicly and offering opinion about criminal and police matters ….

He is being employed by the Herald Sun (and others, as a public speaker via ICMI) to do so – which may or may not influence his published commentary.
He also comes from a position of unrest with regard to his past police career – which may or may not influence his commentary.

I like to look at the background of those that speak of a case, and those that represent the persons involved, and those that preside over the judicial matters.

IMO what Charlie has said so far seems fairly general and logical.

 

[Pepper77]

I am not ruling out suicide............in one of the interviews, BR stated that on the day before Karen disappeared, she had had a bad day at the shop which started the argument.............I feel with the 30th June being the end of the financial year, the financial problems were her greatest concern and she could not see a way out..........
I don't think AR would be capable of doing it............Overhead costs being shop rent, tax, public liability insurance, staff wages etc. etc. can cause many shop owners extreme anxiety to breaking point, remembering that Karen has had huge debt hanging over her head for many years in the past...........Retail sales throughout Australia are at an all-time low which doesn't help as well..........I have been in that situation so I feel that I can relate to Karen in this regard............Sadly, my beautiful father took his own life at only 50 years of age.............Suicide is still a possibility.....MOO !!!

Very wise words, tiddles, and absolutely correct - I concur.

If she really could see no way out then this is a very real possibility.

Her store doesn't just offer event and formal wear though - she has some lovely separates. I'm guessing the prices weren't affordable for the majority of the population though.

I hope if she is alive, and reading this thread, that she lets someone know that she's safe and just needed some time out. Everything - the stepson's allegations; the financial pickle; anything else bothering her - can be sorted. Even if she does have to sell her home, sell her businesses, downgrade her cars and get a job working for someone else, that's not the end of the world. She is only 47 - that's young these days! - and still has much of her life ahead of her.

The speculation about her not being alive based on her not contacting her daughter is, IMO, irrelevant - the daughter had suggested she hold a big sale at the store to which she 'went ballistic', so in her fragile frame of mind she may have felt her daughter was ganging up on her.

 

[Pepper77]

I'd like to think then that Charlie is using his moles in the underbelly to dismiss any sort of suggestion that Karen is being held hostage. At least now he's on the reporter side (as opposed to the police side) of things he can publish his findings and keep the public informed.

Karen's disappearance is making me think of a similar missing woman case ... also 40s ... I can't think where (Perth?) ... off to investigate to see if there are any obvious parallels between the two cases.

 

[Pepper77]

This isn't the one I was thinking of, but it's interesting nevertheless:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-22/police-trying-to-identify-woman's-body-in-dallas/7532174

In summary - an identified dark-haired petite woman in her 40s, found wrapped in a blanket in Dallas, which isn't too far from where Karen went missing.

 

[Pepper77]

Okay, so the one I was originally thinking of was Lorrin Whitehead. She went missing from her house in Bannockburn, Geelong, in February 2013, was 42/43 (there are conflicting reports about that), and her disappearance was reported to be completely out of character. She, too, was on medication (not sure what for), and had been under a lot of stress before disappearing. Her link to Perth (which I remembered there being) was that she went to the same boarding school as a number of the victims of the Claremont murders.

Anyway, back to Karen ...

If she had planned to disappear and start afresh, here's proof that it could well be done (yes, even in this day and age ... a lot of people even now don't use/trust social media):
http://www.scoopnest.com/user/7NewsMelbourne/731426354390925312 (Missing for 53 years; found in another state)
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/missing-toowoomba-woman-turns-melbourne/3055892/ (Her disappearance was reported as out of character, but she made it clear that she doesn't want to be contacted by anyone)

... So I hold out hope that this is what she's done. $850 or thereabouts (being the cash she had on her) is a tonne of money to get by if you sleep rough and find casual work somewhere. Besides, she could've had more than that on her ... what if she'd been planning to start afresh for some time, and had been saving up for her new life, using the business' income?

It's even possible she's returned to New Zealand ... she could have had a replacement passport issued in secret, and used the money on her to buy a one-way ticket ...

Anything is possible, although I really do feel like this one won't ever be solved.

 

[Mrs G Norris]

I'd love it if Karen was alive but I doubt it, I think we need news! Also I don't think she would be sleeping rough .. She's not the type, and $850 is nothing, she'd have scampered home after her first night at a sleazy motel. I also don't think she's being held for any kind of reason.

 

[Trooper]

I'd love it if Karen was alive but I doubt it, I think we need news! Also I don't think she would be sleeping rough .. She's not the type, and $850 is nothing, she'd have scampered home after her first night at a sleazy motel. I also don't think she's being held for any kind of reason.

Another day, Mrs G! winter, too, ....... cold nights in Melbourne. I don't think she would survive sleeping rough, ye gods.. and I agree about the 850... doesn't go far........

people who take people don't want to hold onto them for very long, because a person kidnapped is a terrific nuisance, and often unpleasant and naturally cranky.. .. looking after them would be a hideous job, and guarding them 24/7... no. . I just don't see it. They /he/she would want the ransom quickly and off and away even quicker.

What struck me as odd, was.. Karen leaving her home 'on foot'.. who does this on a winters day these days? .. who says she left 'on foot'?? those outer northwestern suburbs of Melbourne are not famous for their public transport, quite the contrary... ..

Another day.. .. .. .who ever has done this must be thinking they got away with it. Every day, as everyone else loses more and more hope, they/he/she gains hope. I just hate that.

 

[Oz Jen]

I don't think Karen suicided. She'd been toughing it out financially for years. The phone call she received 10 days prior to her disappearance is too long a stretch of time. If that was going to tip her over the edge, I think it would have been an instantaneous panic flee. Most people who do take their own lives go through the ideation process; yes, it can happen that people just 'snap' and call it a day, but from what I've read and experienced, they are in the minority.

If Karen did just 'snap' and decided to end it all, I think they would have found a body by now. If she had planned it, I think she would have driven somewhere remote rather than take off on foot. In either case, I can't see her taking along her handbag.
IMO I don't believe the police have ever thought she was in the river.

As has been mentioned by others, I don't think Karen is out there somewhere sleeping rough, nor do I believe she has been abducted for a ransom. That's too messy for the abductor.

This leaves me with two scenarios;
1/ Karen is alive and taking time out somewhere safe. It's a long time out when you have a distraught daughter.
2/ Murder, either intentional or 'accidental' (GBC). For the moment, this is the one that makes the most logical sense to me. I may be entirely wrong.

 

[Babbakins]

I don't think Karen suicided. She'd been toughing it out financially for years. The phone call she received 10 days prior to her disappearance is too long a stretch of time. If that was going to tip her over the edge, I think it would have been an instantaneous panic flee. Most people who do take their own lives go through the ideation process; yes, it can happen that people just 'snap' and call it a day, but from what I've read and experienced, they are in the minority.

If Karen did just 'snap' and decided to end it all, I think they would have found a body by now. If she had planned it, I think she would have driven somewhere remote rather than take off on foot. In either case, I can't see her taking along her handbag.
IMO I don't believe the police have ever thought she was in the river.

As has been mentioned by others, I don't think Karen is out there somewhere sleeping rough, nor do I believe she has been abducted for a ransom. That's too messy for the abductor.

This leaves me with two scenarios;
1/ Karen is alive and taking time out somewhere safe. It's a long time out when you have a distraught daughter.
2/ Murder, either intentional or 'accidental' (GBC). For the moment, this is the one that makes the most logical sense to me. I may be entirely wrong.

I agree


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PIMaz]

long time reader first time posting... I do not think Karen Suicide.... if that was the case a body would have been found by now. I think there is definite foul play involved.... I think the family have many skeletons in their closet more than what we know with AR, BR and VR. SR could be the key but I also think she will not speak up. I hope the police are really speaking to her... there so many unanswered question that we all have raised. surly if we are raising them the police would be too...
I hope the find her soon...... but o do not think Karen went missing on her own accord....:gaah:

 

[Oz Jen]

long time reader first time posting... I do not think Karen Suicide.... if that was the case a body would have been found by now. I think there is definite foul play involved.... I think the family have many skeletons in their closet more than what we know with AR, BR and VR. SR could be the key but I also think she will not speak up. I hope the police are really speaking to her... there so many unanswered question that we all have raised. surly if we are raising them the police would be too...
I hope the find her soon...... but o do not think Karen went missing on her own accord....:gaah:

:wagon:

 

[insanity]

Welcome PIMaz. Good post, I agree...