'My Sammy didn't deserve this': Brother of Samantha Kelly speaks, police say housemates 'concocted story to cover up' murder
The brother of murdered mother-of-four Samantha Kelly has spoken of how difficult it will be for the family to get over his beloved sister's shocking death.
"It will take a very long time to come to terms with what is happening, it's very difficult to just talk about it. My Sammy didn't deserve that," Michael Kelly told 7 News.
Mr Kelly and his partner Danielle Stevenson are looking after Samantha's four children.
"We are struggling to deal with it, we are just taking each day as it comes. We did break the news to the children, they are still confused," Danielle added.
Ms Kelly's three housemates Peter Arthur, 44, of Kangaroo Flat, Christine Lyons, 44, and Ronald Lyons, 43, posed for photos at the beginning of the week and expressed concerns about their missing housemate.
A court has heard that she was beaten to death with a hammer and the trio allegedly concocted a cover up story before her body was dumped in a dry creek bed.
Ms Lyons told 7 News last Wednesday: "It is unusual that she hasn't been on Facebook and it is unusual that she has not rang the kids."
The group did not report her disappearance for three weeks.
Police allege this is because the trio knew all along where their housemate was.
The Homicide Squad alleges that on January 20 Mr Arthur beat Samantha to death with a hammer. Police claim he told Ronald and Christine Lyons who then tried to help cover up her death.
On Friday night Mr Arthur was charged with murder and Christine and Ronald Lyons were charged with being accessories to murder.
On Thursday night police found Samantha's body buried in shallow grave covered in a tarp in a dry creek on the outskirts of Bendigo.
A court heard that Mr Arthur led police to the grave shortly after he was arrested.
The Lyons allegedly took one of Ms Kelly's children to a preschool on February 1 and enrolled her under another first name and their own surname.
After the murder, Arthur and the Lyons allegedly took $3690 from Ms Kelly's bank account over five transactions.
Police say Arthur confessed to killing Ms Kelly and dumping her body in a shallow grave, which he later led detectives to in a dry creek bed.
Detectives say the last independent and confirmed sighting of Ms Kelly was at an ATM on January 20
All three accused were remanded in custody to face the Bendigo Magistrates Court on February 15.
