A 42-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of Rosebud woman Joanne Martell, more than a month after her body was found in bushland near Sorrento.
Homicide Squad detectives charged the woman from Ravenhall, in Melbourne's west, on Friday, following the suspicious disappearance of Ms Martell, 45, about two years ago.
![Police and SES near Diamond Bay in Sorrento, where Ms Matell's body was found last month.](/web/20170218102248im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/r/5/i/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gufbla.png/1487300134949.jpg)
Ms Martell was the mother of a teenage daughter, and an adult son, who both live interstate.
She lived with friends, regularly moving from house to house, but never leaving the Mornington Peninsula, where she had lived for most of her life.
She was officially reported missing in May last year and detectives launched a fresh appeal for information in early January.
Less than two weeks after this appeal, her body was located by detectives in bushland at Diamond Bay, about 200 metres from a beach car park.
"Homicide squad received information in relation to a possible body at this location," homicide squad Detective Inspector Michael Hughes said, when her body was found on January 13.
Detectives at the time declined to comment on whether the body was that of the missing woman, but on Friday it was confirmed.
![Missing woman Joanne Martell. Image supplied by Victoria Police](/web/20170218102248im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/l/m/b/1/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gufbla.png/1487305661323.jpg)
"Joanne was reported missing in May last year and her body was located by detectives in bushland near Sorrento on 13 January," a police spokeswoman said.
"The Ravenhall woman has been charged with one count of murder."
The woman will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court today.