Image: NSW Police vehicle in Sydney. Credit: ZP 64/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Son charged with murder after Sydney mother vanishes from Winston Hills

A Sydney mother who told family she was going to meet a relative in Winston Hills has not been seen since. Now her 33-year-old son has been charged with murder, and police are still searching for her body.

The woman, aged 58, was last heard from about 4.50pm on Monday, 8 June, when she told relatives she was meeting a family member in Winston Hills, in Sydney’s north-west. By Tuesday morning, her car had turned up in Dodson Street, Winston Hills. She had not returned home.

NSW Police say detectives from Parramatta Police Area Command formed Strike Force Dizek after the missing-person report hardened into something more sinister. On Thursday afternoon, about 1.40pm, detectives found a 33-year-old man sitting in a white Toyota Hilux in bushland along Parnell Fire Trail at Tomerong, about 20 kilometres south of Nowra.

He was arrested and taken to Nowra Police Station, where police charged him with murder. He was refused bail and appeared in court on Friday.

The accused man has been identified in media reports as Ante Popovic. The New Daily, citing AAP, reported that police allege he is the woman’s estranged son, and that officers will allege the pair had arranged to meet to discuss borrowing money. Superintendent Barry Vincent said the family was shocked when told of the arrest.

“When the family were informed of the action taken by police yesterday, they were obviously shocked,” Superintendent Vincent said, according to the AAP report.

Police have not found the woman’s body. That is the grim centre of the case tonight: a mother of three missing, a son in custody, and detectives trying to piece together what happened after that meeting in Winston Hills.

The case is due to return to Parramatta Court on 13 August. Police say their investigation is ongoing.

Sources: NSW Police Force; The New Daily/AAP.