Thursday, December 20, 2007

Misplaced House

Okay, I thought the whole John Darwin amnesiac canoeist fraud was the pinnacle of unusual crime news stories... but then the damn Aussies come up with an even stranger story to top the Brits with their Darwin case:

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.

AAP

I'm just trying to picture this in my head... Someone turns up missing, and the cops go to investigate the home as a possible crime scene and when they get there, they're told the house has been demolished, when in reality the house has just been relocated. I've got to give credit where it's due though. I mean wiping away prints is one thing, but relocating an ENTIRE HOUSE in order to conceal a crime. Now that shows some serious gumption!

"Now where did I leave my house... Oh bloody hell, it's in Bendigo now! Bollocks, that's going to be murder on my commute."

1 comment:

shaggas said...

Hi i was just reading up on the lastest updates about my house. i used to live in this house in bendigo before i moved. the day i recieved the phone call from the cold case detective i could not believe what he was telling me, i thought it was a hoax from one of my friends. Then i rang my realestate agent and she said it was true and that they had contacted debbie my landlord aswell. i was shaken, shocked and horrified with what he had told me. The detectives came on thursday and went through the house piece by piece and spoke about every possibility that could have happened. My brother and i had experiened things in the house but put it down to being an old house. but knowning now what we know it changed our views on the house. it's very erry and strange. To know that something like this could happen to someone was terrible, and to think of the trouble of moving a house was weird. To get rid of evidence and do something unthinkable to a person to his there body yes but to move a house. I never knew Marelene but my thoughts go out to her for what she went through. Its a sad and terrible situation that has happened. there are some people in this world that need help. The house is located in Elm Street Bendigo and really it was a Nightmare on Elm Street.
From Sharon