Couple charged in murder mystery

MURDER SITE? The charred site where the burnt-out Land-Rover Discovery was found at Barkers Vale on December 16 last year.

THE MYSTERY of a burnt-out car found at Barkers Vale last December has deepened, with a man and a woman charged over the suspected murder of a 47-year-old Sydney man.

Police said yesterday homicide detectives had made a successful application to extradite a 42-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman from Victoria to Sydney after they appeared before court there on another matter.

The man has been charged with murder and the woman has been charged with accessory after the fact to murder following investigations into the alleged suspected murder of 47-year-old Saaid Zaiter.

Police said Mr Zaiter was last seen at Chinderah on Tuesday, December 16, last year.

“A silver Land-Rover Discovery was located burnt out at Barkers Vale, near Nimbin in NSW, on December 16 last year,” they said in a statement.

“Today's development follows extensive investigations by Strike Force Rohan, comprising detectives from the State Crime Command's homicide squad, with assistance from the Richmond and Tweed/ Byron local area commands,” they said.

A massive search was launched in December after the burnt-out Land-Rover was found at an overgrown gravel pit beside the Kyogle to Murwillumbah Road.

Locals at the time were left mystified by the search and the police forensic investigations that accompanied it.

They told The Northern Star after the search that police had asked them if they had seen two vehicles in the area, 'a brown one and a black (Subaru) WRX'.

Police said in December that the Land-Rover had been registered to a local person.

Investigations are continuing.