Victoria

Karen Ristevski: Police search quiet stretch of dirt road with a sinister reputation

Blackhill Road in Gisborne South has the air of a place where something or someone could disappear.

It's a quiet, dirt road. Though this area sits only 40 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, there is none of the suburban sprawl that has spread to nearby Sunbury and Melton. It's reached by taking one of the first exits off the Calder Highway, where houses are replaced by sprawling paddocks.

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Police search rural properties for a second day

Victoria Police say they will search for as long as it takes to find answers in the disappearance of Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski. Vision courtesy Seven News Melbourne.

And people here keep to themselves. Houses dot a landscape dominated by scrub, hay bales and bushland, along with the odd dam. 

For two days, a small army of police, CFA crews and volunteers has combed this area looking for anything that might help solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of 47-year-old Karen Ristevski.

Line searches have been conducted, dams have been drained. But as crews left on Tuesday afternoon, taking several bags of evidence with them, there was no suggestion they had found the clue that would crack the case.

That's probably to be expected when the search zone is so big - about 4.5 kilometres by 3 kilometres - and so rough, with limited resources available to help.

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Six months into their investigation, police aren't saying exactly what has pulled their focus to this rural pocket.

There have been reports Ms Ristevki's phone pinged off a nearby mobile tower on the day she went missing. Aside from that there are few leads that have been made public.

And this is not the first time police have searched the area. Neighbours say they have seen helicopters flying low over bushland in recent months. 

There have also been rumours of police interest in a burned-out restaurant on Blackhill Road, which neighbours say is a magnet for criminal activity.

Somewhat unusually, media outlets have been granted close-up access to the search site, beaming shots of orange-clad volunteers into homes across Melbourne.

Maybe the renewed coverage will rattle someone who interests police.

Meanwhile, an area better known for its thoroughbred horse studs is developing a more sinister reputation.

Killer Adrian Bayley chose this quiet stretch of unmade road to dump the body of Jill Meagher after he murdered her in 2012. 

The eerie coincidence has residents nervous, particularly with Ms Ristevski still missing.