Two charged over body found in abandoned Victorian gold mine
A man and woman have been charged in relation to the murder of man whose body was found dumped at a disused Victorian gold mine. Source: 7 News
Two people have been charged after a body was found wrapped in a tarp inside an abandoned Victorian gold mine.
A 26-year-old Traralgon man was charged with murder on Saturday morning.
A 30-year-old woman from Tongala was charged with accessory after the fact to murder early on Monday morning.
The pair were arrested after a public appeal helped homicide detectives identify the victim, Victoria Police say.
The body, which was found on March 12 in the Balaclava Mine near Whroo, was a 56-year-old man Mark Missen, originally from Traralgon, Fairfax reported.
It is believed he had only been renting in Mooroopna for a few weeks.
The man's body was discovered by two men who were climbing inside the former Balaclava Hill gold mine.
Victoria Police had been scouring interstate and international missing persons registers for clues about the man's identify before they decided to launch a public appeal.
The victim was found wearing a Neil Young 2009 tour shirt, a blue knitted jumper with stripes on the arms and only his top dentures were attached.
Police say he was killed, most likely in an assault, wrapped in a tarp, and dropped into the mine shaft.
The part of the mine tunnel where he was found was officially closed in July 2014 as a tourist attraction after a geo-technical stability assessment found the shaft had deteriorated to an unsafe condition.
People can still view it from the outside.
The disused open-cut mine is about 100 metres wide and 30 metres deep with tunnels extending underground.
Parks Victoria says it is a popular tourist site with an estimated 20,000 people a year coming to the mine.
Police have said they believe the victim was killed elsewhere and his body taken to the disused shaft.
They say it was difficult for them to retrieve the man's body.
An autopsy has been completed but police remain tight-lipped about how the man died except to say the most likely scenario was an assault.
The suspects have faced out of sessions hearings and have been remanded to appear at the Shepparton Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
RELATED VIDEO:
