Dark times following a fast crowd

Instead, he became a murder victim himself.

For eight years there has been speculation that Mr Amey killed and disposed of George Teazis - aka George Templeton - a standover man who was part of a Richmond gang known as the ``plastic gangsters''.

Teazis himself had feared the same words after stripper Shari Davison disappeared without trace in 1995.

And Mr Amey, 54, a Hawthorn gym owner, and Teazis, who dealt in illicit drugs and weapons, had more than one thing in common.

At least two of those males would become notorious Melbourne underworld identities.

She was for a time the girlfriend of the ``Dark Prince'' of Lygon St, Alphonse Gangitano, a suspect in the murder of Greg Workman - the first of the credited gangland murders - before Gangitano himself was gunned down in his Templestowe home in 1998.

The petite exotic dancer was also rumoured to be romantically linked to Geoff "Nuts'' Armour.

Like Gangitano, both Teazis and Mr Amey would be suspected of killing and in turn, be killed themselves.

In Teazis' case, the 38-year-old would never be found.

His last known communication was with Ms Lindholm, who lived with him in Reservoir. He sent her a text message at about 2.40am on May 3, 2005, the day he went missing.

His body was winched from between two boulders on Wednesday, a week after he went missing and a day before the last of three suspects was found.

Accused man, Torsten Trabert, 54, led police to Mt Korong near Bendigo after being nabbed by police after a car pursuit on Friday December 13 that ended on foot with Ms Lindholm attempting to cross a creek in Brunswick.

Ms Lindholm and Teazis appeared to have few cares in 1999 when the Herald Sun snapped them with a friend driving along South Yarra's Chapel St, posing for pictures as he drove her yellow sports car with the music on fullbore.

Her story was similar to one that a Coroner heard in 2001, relating to what Teazis had done to a woman during an inquest into Ms Davison's disappearance.

Coincidentally, both Ms Davison and Ms Lindholm worked for the same agency, Simply Irresistible.

Homicide detectives knew Mr Amey had previously been in a relationship with Ms Lindholm and it had reignited about the time Teazis went missing.

He shared the odd tale but kept most of his personal life, particularly regarding Ms Lindholm, off limits until recently.

Three weeks before his murder, he had spoken to friends about a weight being lifted from his shoulders in the belief his bitter dispute with his former lover was over.

His retirement nest egg, a $1.1 million property at Bittern owned by the pair, near Flinders, was finally on the market.

But Ms Lindholm, who a court heard this week was a user of addictive drug ice, was not going to go so easily.

Among his friends from the Camberwell Hockey Club, Dugald Jellie, said it was known his teammate associated with a heavy crowd.

Mr Amey had been a top-grade hockey player in his youth and played in Camberwell's veteran's squad and helped develop its youth players.

Last year, as Mr Amey drove his hockey mates to a game in Geelong in his 4WD - the very car which was used to transport his body and was involved in a subsequent police chase - he spoke of his woes.

One of those in the car last year was Mr Jellie, who wrote about it on his blog.

Mr Amey told his hockey mates as they nursed beers between their legs after a tough game about his acrimonious breakup with Ms Lindholm.

"He spoke openly about a breakup some time ago that had turned sour and threatening,'' Mr Jellie said.

"His ex-partner was once a lap-dancer, who had a history with shadowy figures. The story was, she'd holed-up in his country property, refusing to move, and had invited her bikie friends who had taken to manufacturing drugs.

"Wayne was caught in a drama he couldn't undo. He'd tried restraining orders. He wanted only to quit his ex-partner and her friends, and sell his country retreat, then one day sell his gym and start anew.

"He talked of moving down near Mornington, near where his best friend lives, who plays hockey also, and surfing with him.''

The Herald Sun is not suggesting those charged with Mr Amey's murder are affiliated to outlaw bikie gangs.

News of his death hit his former hockey teammates hard.

"I am saddened and angry and disbelieving,'' Mr Jellie, a freelance journalist, said.

"It frightens me to think of Wayne being hurt and in such peril. It is awful to think of him being so vulnerable, so helpless, so in need of his friends when none of us were there.

"I can't stop but think of the moment he was jumped, and of his fears, and how alone he must have felt.''

Their shock didn't compare to Mr Amey's son Pat, who found blood stains at his father's Hawthorn home near the gym he ran.

Mr Jellie wrote on the blog that Pat had just returned from Istanbul and things were looking better for his old friend - a father of three.

"Last I saw Wayne was about three weeks ago - the night before our family went on a holiday - and he smiled as he most always did, and was happy, and had seemed at last to have rid himself from a troubled past relationship,'' Jellie wrote.

"Life was on the up. I asked about his son, who had returned recently from his law studies in Istanbul. He said he was doing well.''

Others saw a different side of Mr Amey.

His demeanour around his gym, Visions Fitness Centre on Burwood Rd, was sometimes a little gruff.

A prolific sweater was banned for life from his gym, which made the pages of the Herald Sun in July, 2005.

Others said he was not into chit-chatting with too many clients but was known around Hawthorn.