May 15th 2024.
A heartbroken mother, Kallista Mutten, tearfully shared with the police that she had not seen her daughter, Charlise, for two days before she reported her missing. This was before Charlise's body was tragically discovered a few days later. The accused, Justin Laurens Stein, who is 33 years old, has entered a plea of not guilty for the murder of the young schoolgirl. The alleged crime took place on or around January 12, 2022, at Mount Wilson, in the Blue Mountains, located west of Sydney.
During the trial at the NSW Supreme Court this week, Stein's lawyer claimed that it was actually Charlise's own mother who had shot her, not Stein. This shocking revelation has left the jury with a difficult decision to make. In light of this, let's take a closer look at the events leading up to Charlise's death.
At the time of her passing, Mutten and Stein were in a romantic relationship. They had met while serving time in jail. On January 14 at 8:12am, Mutten made the heartbreaking call to the police to report her missing daughter. The jury was able to listen to the recording of this call on Wednesday. In the midst of her tears, Mutten told the operator, "I'm sorry, I need to report my daughter missing - she's nine."
In a somewhat jumbled account, Mutten explained that she had last seen her daughter two nights ago and had left her in the care of Stein. Charlise had been visiting the couple during the holiday break, splitting their time between a property at Mount Wilson and a caravan at the Riverview Ski Park, which was about an hour and a half away.
Mutten continued to tell the operator, "She was here and I wasn't here, my partner was here ... during the morning she was sort of sick, so she was sort of lethargic and I was two-and-a-half hours away." This meant that Charlise was left in Stein's care while Mutten was away. However, according to Mutten, Stein had left Charlise with a woman who had come to evaluate the 12-acre property at Mount Wilson, which was owned by Stein's mother. He had asked the woman to watch over Charlise while he went to pick up Mutten. Mutten explained, "He asked if she could mind her while he went and got me … he didn't want her in the car because she'd been throwing up." However, when they returned, both Stein and Charlise were gone.
The Crown prosecutor, Ken McKay SC, revealed to the jury that Stein had given Mutten two different explanations about what had happened to Charlise. He had initially claimed that she was sick and staying with the property-valuer. Later, he suggested that Charlise may have been taken by individuals from his past criminal activities.
On Wednesday, the officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Sergeant Bradley Gardiner, took the stand and is expected to continue testifying for the rest of the week. He confirmed that during the investigation into Charlise's death, police discovered that Mutten was pregnant with Stein's child.
It was revealed that Charlise had traveled from the Gold Coast to Sydney as an unaccompanied minor in December 2021 to spend the holiday season with her mother and Stein. However, on the evening of January 12, Charlise returned to Mount Wilson with Stein while Mutten stayed at the caravan. CCTV footage captured Stein at a service station the next day with a boat attached to his Holden Colorado ute. It is alleged that he was also transporting a barrel containing Charlise's body. The barrel was discovered near the Colo River, northwest of Sydney, on January 18. An autopsy revealed that Charlise had been shot once in the head and once in the lower back. The trial continues as the jury deliberates on the heartbreaking case.
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