The body of a woman has been found in scrubland at a Victorian weir wall during a police hunt for missing woman Karen Chetcuti.
Police had yet to formally identify the body but said it was believed to be the missing Whorouly woman.
The body was found at Buffalo Lake weir wall off Croppers Creek Road near Myrtleford about 1.35pm on Monday, a police statement said
The lake, a popular spot for swimmers, anglers, and water sports in summer, is 26km from the town of Myrtleford, where Chetcuti’s car was found alight on a dirt road on Thursday.
A 48-year-old Whorouly man was arrested on Sunday in connection to her disappearance and remains in custody, but as of Monday afternoon no charges had been laid.
The man has been named in the media as Michael Cardamone, whose house bordered Chetcuti’s property. However police have not confirmed his identity.
Chetcuti, 49, was last seen about 7.20pm on Tuesday, 12 January, when she left the Whorouly pub, which she used to own and manage with her former husband, and headed home.
Cardamone told Fairfax Media and the Herald Sun before his arrest that he had seen her after that, when she stopped by to collect tomatoes he had grown.
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“When I saw her she seemed happy. I was picking tomatoes,” he told the Herald Sun on Saturday.
“It’s very stressful. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Chetcuti’s workmates at the Rural City of Wangaratta, where she worked as a records coordinator, raised the alarm when she did not turn up to work on Wednesday. The lights on her Whorouly hobby farm had been left on and her purse and handbag were left behind.
Police had been searching properties in Whorouly and surrounding bushland for five days and only began searching at Lake Buffalo late Monday morning. The lake is some 44km from Whorouly.
Residents of the close-knit community said earlier that the popular mother’s disappearance had left them “numb”.
Chetcuti’s two teenaged children, aged 14 and 15, were staying with their father.
The body was found at Buffalo Lake weir wall off Croppers Creek Road near Myrtleford about 1.35pm on Monday, a police statement said
The lake, a popular spot for swimmers, anglers, and water sports in summer, is 26km from the town of Myrtleford, where Chetcuti’s car was found alight on a dirt road on Thursday.
A 48-year-old Whorouly man was arrested on Sunday in connection to her disappearance and remains in custody, but as of Monday afternoon no charges had been laid.
The man has been named in the media as Michael Cardamone, whose house bordered Chetcuti’s property. However police have not confirmed his identity.
Chetcuti, 49, was last seen about 7.20pm on Tuesday, 12 January, when she left the Whorouly pub, which she used to own and manage with her former husband, and headed home.
Cardamone told Fairfax Media and the Herald Sun before his arrest that he had seen her after that, when she stopped by to collect tomatoes he had grown.
The stories you need to read, in one handy email
Read more
“When I saw her she seemed happy. I was picking tomatoes,” he told the Herald Sun on Saturday.
“It’s very stressful. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Chetcuti’s workmates at the Rural City of Wangaratta, where she worked as a records coordinator, raised the alarm when she did not turn up to work on Wednesday. The lights on her Whorouly hobby farm had been left on and her purse and handbag were left behind.
Police had been searching properties in Whorouly and surrounding bushland for five days and only began searching at Lake Buffalo late Monday morning. The lake is some 44km from Whorouly.
Residents of the close-knit community said earlier that the popular mother’s disappearance had left them “numb”.
Chetcuti’s two teenaged children, aged 14 and 15, were staying with their father.
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