Marlene McDONALD
Above - Marlene McDonald with her daughter Caroline.
Police offer reward in 21-year-old cold case
They will also question employees at her former workplace and knock on doors in the street in which she lived, in the hope of finding someone who might have seen or heard anything strange around the time she vanished.
Mrs McDonald, then 36, had been working as a waitress at the Truck City roadhouse on the Hume Highway at Campbellfield when she disappeared on Sunday, December 14 1986.
Cold case task force detective, acting Senior Sergeant Julian Horan, said she was last seen just after midnight on that date, when she returned to her Wattle Grove home after an evening out with friends.
Mrs McDonald was reported missing by her parents the next morning and her abandoned car, a blue 1968 Toyota Corolla Coupe, was found at the her workplace the following evening.
'Very suspicious'
She has not been seen or heard from since and police believe she met with foul play.
Senior Sergeant Horan said police had received information to suggest this was a "very suspicious" missing persons file.
Senior Sergeant Horan said investigators had reviewed the case and believe someone in the community has information regarding Mrs McDonald's disappearance.
"Her disappearance has been described as very out of character and the lack of contact with her children for the past 21 years cannot be explained," he said.
"She was by all accounts a dedicated mother who loved her children and there is no reasonable explanation for her to not have any contact with the children over that time."
'I'd settle for bones'
Mrs McDonald's mother, Mrs Edie McEntee, welcomed the cold case investigation.
"I'm really glad the police are back on this, to be honest," Mrs McEntee said.
"I wanted closure. It's what I've wanted for 21 years."
Mrs McDonald said she did not doubt her daughter was dead.
"She would have contacted me or her own family, or one of her sisters or brothers, if she had been alive. I just can't imagine that she wouldn't do that," she said.
She also said she was not always aware of all that went on in her daughter's life at that time.
"I'm quite certain that she would have confided in her brother or her sisters. They all tried to protect me as much as they could and I probably didn't know quite as much as what the brother and the sisters did," she said.
"We'd get to a certain stage and then, I believe, the police were called onto another case and this was just sort of left," she said.
But now: "I feel the police are doing a terrific job. I am very hopeful that there will be a closure.
"It would mean, not worrying every day. As my husband used to say, I'd settle for bones."
Mrs McEntee said she could, perhaps, understand why someone might not have spoken up about what they knew of her daughter's disappearance.
"Perhaps they were frightened, that they didn't want to get involved with the police or something like that," Mrs McEntee said.
"There's a lot of people who don't want to get involved with the police."
Originally from Yan Yean, she lived at Wallan during her marriage and had been living in Reservoir for only a year when she disappeared.
Car seen 'driving erratically'
At the time of her disappearance, Mrs McDonald had been separated from her husband and living with three of her five children. The other two children were living with their father.
An examination of Mrs McDonald's home the day after she disappeared indicated that somebody had forced entry to the premises, Senior Sergeant Horan said.
He said witnesses later told police that on the night of her disappearance they heard Ms McDonald's car start up and drive erratically out of the driveway and up the street.
"The witnesses have indicated the driver was not Marlene," he said.
"Police believe persons responsible for Marlene's disappearance lay in wait for her to return and later used her vehicle to transport her to another location before leaving the vehicle at Truck City."
When asked, Senior Sergeant Horan declined to identify Mrs McDonald's former husband as a possible suspect.
"There are a number of persons of interest in this investigation. I do not wish to go into any detail as to (who they might be)," he said.
Shortly after her disappearance two anonymous phone calls were made to Truck City.
"The caller has indicated among other information that Marlene is dead," he said.
"Now it's clear the caller has information in relation to Marlene's disappearance and we would urge that caller to ring Crime Stoppers and provide us with further information."
Police have recently confirmed some of the information provided in these calls and want the person who made them to call back.
"Certainly this person had some sort of knowledge about what happened to Marlene and despite the passage of time we are urging them to come forward," Senior Sergeant Horan said.
"The Director of Public Prosecutions will consider granting an indemnity from prosecution to any person who provides information as to the identity of the main offenders or offender in relation to this matter."
Detectives were due to arrive at Truck City just after midday.
"Despite the fact that it was 21 years ago that Marlene disappeared, it may well be that witnesses are available, witnesses that were living in Wattle Grove in Reservoir or witnesses that were working in Truck City in Campbellfield who could provide us with valuable information.
"So we're seeking to tap into that," Senior Sergeant Horan said.
Information can be provided via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
$100,000 to identify woman's killer
December 14, 2007 12:00am
POLICE have offered $100,000 to anyone who can help solve the disappearance of a mother of five 21 years ago today.
Marlene McDonald was 36 when she disappeared without trace after midnight on December 14, 1986.
Acting Det Sen-Sgt Julian Horan, from the cold case unit, believes she was murdered.
Ms McDonald was a waiter at the Truck City restaurant and cafe on the Hume Highway in Campbellfield.
She had been estranged from her husband for a year.
Three of her children -- Caroline, then four, Timothy, 12, Simon, 10, Janine, 13, and Damian, 16 -- lived with her, and the others with him.
Ms McDonald was last seen alive before returning to her home in Wattle Grove, Reservoir, after midnight on December 14 from a night out.
Police said someone had forced their way in.
Witnesses have told police they heard her car drive out of the driveway erratically they don't believe she was driving.
Her blue 1968 Toyota Corolla, registration JYB 087, was found outside her workplace.
Police believe someone lay in wait for her, took her somewhere, then dumped her car.
In the weeks that followed, two anonymous phone calls were made to the Truck City cafe, one saying she was dead.
Yesterday, detectives spoke with residents in Wattle Grove and visited the Truck City cafe.
"Someone in the community knows what happened to Marlene," Det Sen-Sgt Horan said.
"It's completely out of character, and the lack of contact with her children over the past 21 years cannot be explained.
"She has by all accounts been a dedicated mother, and there's nothing to suggest she would willingly cease contact with her children."
Through the Department of Public Prosecutions, police will grant indemnity to anyone who can lead police to identifying the guilty.
"This has been a mystery for 21 years," Det Sen-Sgt Horan said. "It is time we solved the mystery."
The car, the current whereabouts of which are unknown, was dusted for prints.
But Det Sen-Sgt Horan said forensic DNA examinations of crime scenes in 1986 were not as sophisticated as today's.
Ms McDonald's mother, Edie McEntee, said her daughter's disappearance was in her mind every day.
"It never leaves you," Mrs McEntee said. "It's always at the back of your mind. As my husband used to say, I'd settle for bones."
Mrs McEntee welcomed police turning their attention to the case, criticising police who first worked on the case.
"I really blamed the police at the time," she said.
"Police were called to another case, and it was sort of left . . .
"I want closure. It would mean not worrying every day."
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Missing woman's 'demolished' house reappears
Cold-case detectives will travel to Bendigo today to investigate fresh leads in the 21-year-old mystery of missing Melbourne woman Marlene McDonald.
The Reservoir house Mrs McDonald was living in at the time of her disappearance was initially thought to have been demolished, but has instead been transported to the Bendigo area, police said today.
Forensic experts and detectives will undertake forensic testing on the Elm Street house and recreate the scene of the night of Marlene's disappearance.
The move comes a week after detectives reopened the investigation into Mrs McDonald's disappearance.
Police last week offered a $100,000 reward and possible indemnity from prosecution for anyone who helps police solve the McDonald case.
Mrs McDonald was estranged from her husband when she disappeared on December 14, 1986 after a night out with friends.
Soon after, two anonymous phone calls to the Truck City Restaurant and Cafe - where she worked as a waitress - indicated the 36-year-old mother-of-five was dead.
Detectives last week revisited witnesses and door-knocked the Wattle Grove area of Reservoir, where Mrs McDonald lived, and Truck City in nearby Campbellfield.
Mrs McDonald's elderly mother, Edie McEntee, made a tearful plea last week for help to solve the case.
Police open 21-year-old truck stop worker disappearance
December 13, 2007 12:01pm
COLD case detectives have reopened a 21-year-old investigation into the disappearance of a Melbourne mother of five after new information came to light.
Marlene McDonald, 36, was estranged from her husband when she went missing after a night out with friends on December 14, 1986.Shortly after her disappearance, two anonymous phone calls were made, indicating she was dead, to the Truck City Restaurant and Cafe on the Hume Highway in Campbellfield where she worked as a waitress, police said today.
"An examination of her house at the time indicated forced entry and a struggle,'' said cold case Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Julian Horan.
Witnesses told police that evening they heard a car start up and drive erratically down the street. They do not believe the driver was Marlene.
"We believe someone in the community knows what happened to her,'' Sgt Horan said.
Detectives are today re-visiting witnesses and door knocking the Wattle Grove area in Reservoir and Truck City truck stop in Campbellfield.
Man charged with murder of Marlene McDonaldRelease date: Wed 3 September 2008
Belier Taskforce detectives have tonight
charged a 67-year-old Sunbury man with the
murder of Marlene McDonald, who disappeared
from her Reservoir home on 14 December 1986.
John Vincent McDonald was arrested at a Daly Close, Sunbury address at 7.45am this morning and taken back to the St Kilda Road police complex for questioning. Mr McDonald appeared before an out of sessions hearing and was remanded to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday 4 September. |
Husband charged over 22-year-old murder
September 4th 2008 - ABC
Victorian cold case detectives have arrested a Sunbury man in connection with a 22-year-old murder case.
Sixty-seven-year-old John Vincent McDonald has been charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Marlene McDonald, in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir in December 1986.
The single mother-of-five was 36 when she was reported missing. Her body has never been found.
Police reopened their investigation into her disappearance last year, after discovering her house had been moved to Bendigo.
Officers were able to DNA test the home for the first time and posted a $100,000 reward for information relating to the case.
Mr McDonald has appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court and was remanded in custody. He will be back in court in January.
Missing Melbourne woman lived in Bendigo home: police
Posted - ABC
Police have confirmed a home in Bendigo was previously the residence of missing Melbourne woman Marlene McDonald.
Ms McDonald was living in the weatherboard house in Reservoir when she was abducted in 1986.
Police believed the home was later demolished, but now know it was transported to Bendigo.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Julian Horan says forensic investigators have begun inspecting the property.
"DNA material or another forensic material that may assist us," he said.
Detectives hope to pick up traces of DNA that were undetectable in the years after Ms McDonald's disappearance.
Crime Stoppers caller generates new leadsRelease date: Fri 5 September 2008
Belier Task Force detectives have
received important information from a Crime
Stoppers caller they believe could assist
them to locate the body of Marlene McDonald.
Information to Crime Stoppers overnight revealed her remains may possibly be buried in the Kinglake Mountains or Mount Disappointment area. Investigators are now appealing for anybody who may have information about where Marlene’s remains are located to come forward. Detective Sergeant Julian Horan said investigators were appealing to anybody who may have seen anything unusual in the area around the time of 14 December 1986 to contact police. “We are asking for anyone who noticed anything unusual, such as disturbed ground, or any other strange activity to come forward. “It is possible that what they saw at the time seemed fairly ordinary, but in light of what we now know may actually be quite significant,” Detective Sergeant Horan said. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppers.com.au |
Police receive information on where Marlene McDonald remains might be
September 05, 2008 02:37pm
POLICE believe that a caller to Crime Stoppers may have given them important information in the search for the remains of Marlene McDonald.
Ms McDonald's husband, John Vincent McDonald, 67, was charged with murder yesterday over the cold case disappearance of the mother of five.Ms McDonald, who was 36 at the time, disappeared from her Reservoir home on December 14, 1986.
Now police say a caller to Crime Stoppers overnight revealed her remains may possibly be buried in the Kinglake Mountains or Mount Disappointment area.
Investigators are now appealing for anybody who may have information on the whereabout's of Ms McDonald's remains to come forward.
Det-Sgt Julian Horan said investigators were appealing to anybody who may have seen anything unusual in the area around the time of Ms McDonald's disappearance to contact police.
“We are asking for anyone who noticed anything unusual, such as disturbed ground, or any other strange activity to come forward," he said.
“It is possible that what they saw at the time seemed fairly ordinary, but in light of what we now know may actually be quite significant."
Mr McDonald was arrested at a Daly Close address in Sunbury at 7.45am on Wednesday, and was taken to the St Kilda Rd police complex where he was first questioned, then charged.
Last year, on the 21st anniversary of Ms McDonald's disappearance, police offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who helped solve the mystery.
A week later her house, thought to have been demolished years earlier, was discovered in country Victoria.
The house had been relocated to a block in Elm St, Bendigo, 150km northwest of Melbourne.
Experts forensically examined the house, which then became the focus of the reopened cold case.
Ms McDonald was 36 when she disappeared without a trace after midnight on Sunday, December 14, 1986.
Police believe a friend dropped Ms McDonald at her home about 1am.
Witnesses told police they later heard her car start up, rev loudly and drive off erratically. It was believed she was not the driver.
Her blue 1968 Toyota Corolla, registration JYB-087, was later found outside her workplace at a truck stop on the Hume Highway.
Ms McDonald was a waiter at the Truck City restaurant and cafe in Campbellfield.
She was estranged from her husband for about a year before she disappeared.
Her children - Caroline, then four, Timothy, 12, Simon, 10, Janine, 13, and Damian, 16 - were with their father on the night she was allegedly murdered.
In the weeks that followed, two anonymous phone calls were made to the Truck City cafe, one saying she was dead. Her body has never been found.
Ms McDonald's mother, Edie McEntee, said last year her daughter's disappearance was on her mind every day.
"It never leaves you," Mrs McEntee said.
"It's always at the back of your mind.
"As my husband used to say, I'd settle for bones."
Mr McDonald appeared before an out of sessions hearing and was remanded to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court today.
Police were unable to confirm last night whether the cash reward offered had led to the arrest. However, spokeswoman Alison Noonan said the reward was still being offered by Victoria Police.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Trio arrested over 1986 disappearance of Marlene McDonald
THREE men have been charged over the disappearance of a Melbourne waitress who went missing almost 23 years ago from a truckie roadhouse.
Marlene McDonald was last seen returning home following an evening out with friends in 1986.
Cold case detectives arrested and
charged the men with the kidnapping of
Marlene McDonald in December 1986.
It follows the arrest of Ms McDonald’s
estranged husband, John Vincent
McDonald, for her murder last September.
And the arrests come just days after
police set up an information caravan in
Morwell, in country Victoria, appealing
for people who may know where Ms
McDonald’s body is located.
Detectives from the Bellier Taskforce,
homicide squad and local police arrested
and charged Gregory Bone, 39, from
Melbourne’s north, Stuart Binion from
Sydney and a 41-year-old man from Moe,
in Victoria’s south-east.
Ms McDonald, a waitress at the Truck
City roadhouse in Campbellfield, in
Melbourne’s north-west, was last seen
returning home following an evening out
with friends. She was reported missing
by her parents the following morning.
Her car was found abandoned at Truck
City the next day.
Shortly after, two anonymous phone calls
to Truck City indicated she was dead.
In December 2007, the 21st anniversary
of McDonald's disappearance, police
offered a $100,000 reward to solve the
crime.
A week later, her house, thought to have
been demolished, was discovered in
country Victoria. The house had been
relocated to a block in Bendigo, 150km
northwest of Melbourne. Experts
undertook a forensic examination of the
house, which then became the focus of
the reopened cold case.
Three men charged over 1986 disappearance of Marlene McDonald
June 19, 2009 02:15pm
THREE men have been charged in relation to the cold case disappearance of waitress Marlene McDonald more than 22 years ago.
Mrs McDonald, a
waitress at the Truck City
roadhouse in north suburban
Campbellfield, was last seen
shortly after midnight on
December 14, 1986 returning
home following an evening
out with friends.
Cold case detectives said
last week they believed they
were close to finding the
body of the mother of five.
Police arrested three men
this week in connection with
the disappearance.
Her estranged husband, John
Vincent McDonald, was
charged with her murder last
September and is awaiting
trial.
Gregory Bone, 39, from
Whittlesea, was arrested on
Tuesday before facing
Melbourne Magistrates' Court
the same day.
He has since been remanded
in custody on charges of
kidnapping.
NSW man Stuart Binion, aged
in his late 30s, was
arrested in Sydney yesterday
on charges of kidnapping and
will be extradited to
Victoria to face Melbourne
Magistrates' Court on
Monday.
A 41-year-old Moe man was
arrested today and charged
with kidnapping and indecent
assault.
Police will be making an
application for remand this
afternoon at Morwell
Magistrates Court.
Ms McDonald, who was 36 at
the time, was reported
missing by her parents the
morning after she was last
seen.
Her car was found abandoned
at Truck City the next day.
Shortly after, two anonymous
phone calls to Truck City
indicated Mrs McDonald was
dead.
She has not been seen or
heard from since.
On December 14 2007, the
21st anniversary of Mrs
McDonald's disappearance,
police offered a $100,000
reward to solve the crime.
In a bizarre twist, her
house, thought to have been
demolished years earlier,
was discovered in country
Victoria a week later.
The house had been relocated
to a block in Elm Street,
Bendigo, 150km north-west of
Melbourne.
Experts undertook an
extensive forensic
examination of the house,
which then became the focus
of the reopened cold case.
Murdered mother Marlene McDonald beaten for her 'sins', court hears
A MOTHER of five who police believe was murdered by her estranged husband almost 23 years ago was savagely beaten by her religious father and brother for being a "sinner" and leaving her husband not long before she vanished.
Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday heard Marlene McDonald, 36, was last seen on December 14, 1986. Her car was discovered in the carpark of a roadside truck cafe where she had worked for at least two years.
Former workmates told the committal hearing of her estranged husband John McDonald - who was only recently charged with kidnapping and murdering her after cold-case detectives reopened the investigation - that she constantly feared for her life.
They said she would come to work with bruises and was "beaten" by Mr McDonald, now 68, as well as her father and brother, and felt she was being "watched" by her estranged husband.
The court was told the roadside cafe - called Truck City on the Hume Highway in Campbellfield just north of Melbourne - had the reputation that some waitresses would also work as prostitutes, and that drugs were traded. Some waitresses were known as "truckie sluts" because they would sleep with drivers after work.
But her former boss, Barbara Ritchie, told the court McDonald was not one of the "wild" girls, was devoted to her children and was just trying to start a new life after separating from her husband. She said McDonald would often arrive at the restaurant with bruises and most people suspected she had been assaulted by her husband.
Ms Ritchie told the hearing McDonald had confided in her that she had been attacked by two masked men in her home one night but she knew they were her father and brother. "They both started punching and kicking her. The father was very religious and was saying over and over that she had sinned, that she had committed adultery ... whilst her brother was calling her a slut and a whore," she said in a statement tendered to the court.
"They continued dragging her by the hair to the laneway ... when they got outside, her brother started using a baseball bat ... She thought they were going to kill her."
Ms Ritchie said McDonald thought her husband was involved in the attack because she saw his van in the laneway where she was dragged before being shown a dumpster.
"Marlene then said her brother started saying, 'That is where you will end up next time ... that is where trash belongs'," Ms Ritchie said. "He also said to her that if she did not go back to her husband that she will be killed."
She said McDonald believed she was going to be killed by her brother but that it was "totally instigated by the husband and father".
The court also heard conflicting reports from former workmates that McDonald may have been seeing one or more truck drivers and that she had simply run off with one of them to Queensland.
But Ms Ritchie gave evidence that the 36-year-old would never have left her children.
The month-long committal hearing continues tomorrow.
Waitress had bruises before disappearance, court hears
Posted
- ABC
A court has been told that a Melbourne truck stop waitress who was murdered more than 20 years ago had affairs with several truck drivers.
The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard that waitress and mother of five Marlene McDonald went missing in December 1986.
Her car was found dumped at the Campbellfield roadhouse where she worked.
Last year, her estranged husband John Vincent McDonald, 68, of Sunbury was charged with her murder.
Ms McDonald's former colleagues told his committal hearing today that she was seeing several truck drivers who stopped at the roadhouse, and this gave her the courage to leave her husband.
The court was also told Ms McDonald was seen with bruises several times before she disappeared.
The hearing continues.
Waitress 'feared she
would be killed'
- Melissa Iaria - WA Times
- November 2, 2009
A woman missing for 23 years and believed murdered was terrified of her husband, father and brother and thought she would be killed, her former workmates allege.
Mother-of-five Marlene McDonald, from Reservoir in Melbourne's north, went missing in December 1986. Her body has never been found.
Her estranged husband, John Vincent McDonald, 68, of Sunbury, was charged last year with her kidnap and murder after police posted a $100,000 reward to anyone who could help solve the mystery.
Ms McDonald's former colleagues from the Truck City roadhouse in Campbellfield where she worked as a waitress alleged in court her husband was abusive and she was having affairs with truck drivers.
Her workmates also told the Melbourne Magistrates' Court Ms McDonald often came to work with bruises.
One colleague, Sharon Scicluna, said Ms McDonald once came to work with a big gash on her head, saying her husband had hit her with a plank of wood.
"I remember Marlene being belted a number of times by her husband," she said in her tendered statement.
Barbara Ritchie said in her statement Ms McDonald told her she had left her husband a few times after he beat her.
In one incident, Ms McDonald told her she was threatened with her life during an attack by her own brother and father involving a baseball bat.
Ms Ritchie said Ms McDonald told her she was awoken and dragged out of her bed by two men whose faces were covered, but whom she knew was her brother and father.
Ms McDonald had told her they punched and kicked her, her father repeatedly told her she had sinned and her brother called her a "slut" and "whore" and hit her with a baseball bat.
Ms Ritchie said Ms McDonald believed her husband was involved as she saw his van as she was being dragged to a dumpster, where her brother told her "trash belongs".
"He also said to her that if she did not go back to her husband, that she will be killed," Ms Ritchie said.
"Marlene said the bashing was a warning to her. But Marlene also knew that she would be killed."
Ms Ritchie said Ms McDonald was in terror of her father, husband and brother, who was "backward".
"Marlene believed that she was going to be killed by her brother but totally instigated by the husband and father," she said.
Ms McDonald's former colleagues said she was quiet but gained more confidence once truck drivers paid her attention.
The court heard that one worker told police Ms McDonald was "trim", "very well spoken" and "easy", meaning she slept around with the truck drivers.
"At the beginning it was like a smorgasbord," the witness told police.
But others said Ms McDonald was not "wild" like some of the other waitresses who slept with truckies for money.
Waitress Lynette Parker said Ms McDonald began seeing truck drivers when she was still married, but there were only two affairs she knew of.
The court heard there was gossip after her disappearance that she moved interstate with a truck driver but an unknown person had called her work to say she was dead.
The pre-trial hearing continues on Wednesday.
Brother of missing woman slams police
THE brother of a woman who went missing almost 23 years ago and is alleged to have been murdered by her estranged husband has hit out at police, saying their original investigation of her disappearance was "inept, at best".
Anthony McEntee told the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday he had to go to his local police station and refuse to leave for hours before detectives would look into the whereabouts of his sister, Marlene McDonald.
McDonald, a 36-year-old mother of five, was last seen on December 14, 1986. Prosecutors allege her estranged husband, John McDonald, kidnapped and murdered her. Cold case detectives reopened the case in 2007.
Mr McEntee told Mr McDonald's committal hearing yesterday that he was far from happy about the way the original detectives had handled his sister's disappearance.
He said he went to her house, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, after she had gone missing and found evidence someone had broken in and there had been some sort of altercation.
"I think I rang the police and they did not attend. Dianne (his then girlfriend) and I went to the Reservoir police station. I recall sitting there for hours determined to stay there until somebody took some action," Mr McEntee said in a statement tendered to the court.
He said he was never satisfied with the police investigation and made his own inquiries, including travelling to Queensland to show pictures of his sister after rumours circulated that she had run off with a truck driver.
"The police investigation was very frustrating - the police officers were far from being proactive," he said. "One of the terms they used was it was more a domestic than anything else. It seemed they had to go out of their way to do any sort of investigation - they seemed totally disinterested."
The committal hearing also heard evidence from John Gaffney, who used to volunteer at St Vincent de Paul and who helped McDonald escape from her then threatening husband 12 months before she went missing.
The committal continues.
Man jailed over 1986 kidnappingPosted |
|
Korp linked to cold case
STEVE BUTCHER
November 12, 2009JOE Korp and his wife Maria - who was bashed, choked and left to die in the boot of a car near the Shrine of Remembrance - have been linked in death to a cold case murder prosecution.
One of Korp's brothers and Mrs Korp's daughter have also been drawn into the case of a woman who disappeared and was believed murdered almost 23 years ago.
Homicide detectives have been told that Mrs Korp, 47, who died in 2005, six months after her husband got his lover to attack her, knew mother of five Marlene McDonald.
It has been alleged that in about 1990 - four years after Mrs McDonald was last seen alive - Mrs Korp was in Queensland when she saw Mrs McDonald and waved to her.
Mrs Korp allegedly knew Mrs McDonald through a cricket club, the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday during a committal hearing for Mrs McDonald's estranged husband John, 68, who is charged with her murder. It was also revealed that Joe Korp and his brother Kevin played together in a cricket team against another team that included McDonald.
Kevin Korp and Mrs Korp's daughter Laura De Gois gave evidence yesterday in McDonald's case after investigators approached their solicitor Jim Robinson, of Best Hooper.
Homicide detectives, who reopened the case in 2007, provided Mr Robinson with the claims made by McDonald about the Queensland "sighting" for his clients to make sworn statements which were tendered yesterday in court.
Ms De Gois, 31, a hairdresser, said her mother never visited Queensland and "on this basis I would say this story is a lie".
Mr Korp, 44, a lift mechanic, described the story as being "made up".
The sordid saga of Korp's infamous crime, committed with his mistress Tania Herman, transfixed the public and continues with a planned telemovie about the case.
Herman was jailed for a minimum of nine years after pleading guilty to the attempted murder of Mrs Korp, who never regained consciousness, while Korp, 47, killed himself before a same charge was heard.
In 2007, after a coroner found Korp helped Herman "callously" attack his wife, the posthumous prosecution of him was ended.
Mrs McDonald, then 36, was last seen in December, 1986, and her car found near a roadhouse cafe where she worked in Campbellfield.
McDonald, who was charged last year, is alleged to have asked a teenager from the Whittlesea Cricket Club to help kidnap his wife.
That man and two others have pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping her but have not been sentenced. McDonald's hearing has been told of rumours his wife may have "run off" to Queensland with a truck driver.
Ms De Gois said in her statement detectives told her an "individual" had stated her mother saw Mrs McDonald "alive and well" outside a cafe in Queensland in about 1990.
But Ms De Gois said: "My mother never went to Queensland. I would have been aware of this if she had of travelled there. On this basis I would say this story is a lie." She told defence counsel Tony Lewis she did not know if Joe Korp played cricket for a Donnybrook club where it was alleged her mother knew Mrs McDonald.
Kevin Korp said he and his brother played for Donnybrook and that he (Kevin) knew McDonald as an opposition player for Whittlesea but had never met his wife. "I believe that Maria would not have known John McDonald as Joe wasn't playing for Donnybrook in 1990 and that was the year Joe and Maria first met," he said.
