Charlise Mutten’s mother speaks to police
Charlise’s Mutten’s mother Kallista has spoken to the police, according to The Daily Telegraph.
According to their report, she gave a statement to police on Friday last week, in which she revealed that she initially believed her fiance Justin Laurens Stein’s explanation for why Charlise was not with him on January 13.
A police source told the Telegraph, “He gave a story about where the kid was and she believed him, then later on she got concerned and reports her missing.”
Ms Mutten called police at 8.20 am on January 14, sparking a search for Charlise before her body was found in a barrel on the banks of the Colo River five days later, 65km from where she was first reported missing.
According to Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson, police will allege in court that Mr Stein held phone conversations with Ms Mutten in the lead-up to Charlise’s body being discovered.
He said, “[There were] a number of telephone conversations with the girl’s mother, to purchase a number of sandbags, 20kg sandbags from a hardware store, to fuel a boat and then try and float that boat on the water at one of the docks in inner Sydney.”
Police will also allege Mr Stein drove to Sydney with Charlise’s body in the back of his boat, believing he had tried to launch it from an inner-Sydney dock.
Police allege Charlise was killed by a bullet wound.
Detectives say there is “no evidence” Ms Mutten was involved in her daughter’s disappearance.
Charlise had been in her grandmother’s custody in Queensland, but was visiting her mother and soon-to-be-stepfather in NSW during the school holidays.
Mr Stein is next due to appear in court on March 18.