A Melbourne woman has made her court appearance on charges of murder and the disposal of a corpse in a river.
The 49-year-old woman was taken into custody on Tuesday following the discovery of a lifeless corpse in the Maribyrnong River. The victim was found with her legs bound by plastic and a bag wrapped over her head. A local fisherman in Flemington found the brutally battered body of an unnamed woman floating in the river on Sunday morning.
An adored grandma has been named as the presumed victim whose corpse was discovered floating along a river in Melbourne over the weekend.
The body of Lolene Whitehand was found on Sunday in Flemington’s Maribyrnong River. Her body was discovered with injuries, a plastic bag around her neck, and other signs of trauma.
The suspect, who is unmarried, and her son, who is fifteen years old, were both taken into custody by investigators from the Homicide Squad after being examined by the authorities. The mother was remanded in jail to appear on charges of murder, but the child was freed without charges. According to the police, the two ladies knew each other.
Defense attorney Sharon Healey informed the court that her client needed steroid injections due to nerve damage in her back and asked for permission to visit a nurse.
The woman’s daily drug regimen included 5 milligrams of Valium and 20 milligrams of Lexapro, both of which were prescribed due to her depression and anxiety, as was stated in court.
Media groups will contest the court-imposed gag order at Tuesday’s planned court session. From noon on July 12th to 10:30 am on July 14th, detectives are asking anybody with dash cam or CCTV video from the areas near Lynchs’ Bridge to contact them.
Next Tuesday, news organizations will contest the ruling that prohibits the suspect’s name from being released. A man from West Footscray was also discovered dead in the Maribyrnong River on Sunday morning, and police are still looking into the circumstances surrounding his death. The authorities are not looking into his death as a possible connection to the woman’s death.
