UPDATE: Three men have been charged with murdering a man whose dismembered body parts were discovered in the Maribyrnong River last month.
Homicide Squad detectives interviewed and charged the three men on Monday over the death of Brendan David Bernard, whose remains were found in the river over a number of days.
Con Spaliaras, 31, Matthew David Brennan, 36, and Edward Lionel Hill, 46, were each charged with one count of murder.
The accused, all from North Melbourne, appeared before an out-of-session’s court hearing on Monday evening and were remanded in custody to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Mr Bernard, 32, was last seen alive in Melbourne’s CBD on January 27.
Police began searching the river when a human arm with a distinctive devil tattoo was found floating near Maribyrnong on February 5.
Days later a man saw a leg poking out of a shopping bag on the river’s edge, just south of the Maribyrnong Road bridge and about 500 metres from where the arm was found.
The next day a woman rowing on the river noticed a plastic bag in the rocks on the side of the river, looked inside and found what she believed to be human remains.
A further search of the area by police divers and State Emergency Service volunteers uncovered more remains about two kilometres away.
Police were initially unable to identify the body, but a breakthrough came when a member of the man’s family came forward after police released an image detailing a tattoo of a devil holding a spray can on his forearm, similar to a devil depicted on the cover of Sydney punk band Downtime’s late 90s album Tooth and Nail.
Search efforts for further body parts continue but have been hampered by the Maribyrnong River’s tidal flow.
Our earlier reports
Maribyrnong River: Murder mystery identified as Brendan Bernard
Maribyrnong River: Police identify Melbourne man’s limbs
