Hundreds of Karen Chetcuti's friends and family attended her funeral in February. Credit:Eddie Jim Mr Silbert said Mr Cardamone, 49, allegedly went to the woman's home at 9.30pm on January 12, 2016. During the next hour, he allegedly forced her to ingest a small amount of animal tranquiliser and methamphetamine, and bound and gagged her before causing fractures to her skull and ribs. Ms Chetcuti Verbunt's body was found down a track off Croppers Creek Road on January 18 with duct tape wrapped five times around her neck, plus two cable ties. Mr Silbert said the body was also abused and injected with battery acid after death, and had spinal injuries allegedly caused by being run over by Mr Cardamone's car.

Flowers were left out the front of Karen Chetcuti Verbunt's home. Credit:Mark Jesser "He then set about constructing an elaborate charade, making it look like an innocent disappearance," he said. "He obtained possession of the deceased's mobile phone, which he used in the course of constructing her disappearance," he said. Karen Chetcuti Verbunt's home on the day after her disappearance. Credit:Mark Jesser "The accused continued to give lying accounts to police to derail their investigation and fabricated a story that he had been kidnapped, as part of him staging the deceased's disappearance.

"Ultimately, the accused took police to the location where the deceased's body had already been found." CCTV footage of Karen Chetcuti leaving ALDI in Wangaratta on Tuesday, January 12, 2016. Mr Cardamone, dressed in a green prison tracksuit and handcuffed in front of his body, kept a straight face throughout the evidence. The prosecution alleged Mr Cardamone washed his car three times in Myrtleford to cover up the evidence and told police a series of false stories. Michael Cardamone is taken into Wangaratta Court for an earlier hearing Credit:Mark Jesser

Dimitri Gerostamoulos the head of forensic science at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine said 0.03mg/L of xylazine was found in Ms Chetcuti Verbunt's stomach. He said the drug was used as an animal tranquilliser but even in small doses could affect humans. "This drug is likely to cause drowsiness, could have caused unconsciousness and in some cases can cause death," Dr Gerostamoulos said. He said a low concentration in the Ms Chetcuti Verbunt's blood could have been altered because her body was so decomposed. There was also evidence of petrol fumes ingested while Ms Chetcuti Verbunt was burnt.

"It's quite a volatile substance," Dr Gerostamoulos said. Forensic pathologist Malcolm Dodd said the time of death could have been any point over the few days before the body was discovered. He said fractures to Ms Chetcuti Verbunt's pelvis and ribs were consistent with the body being run over after death. "I immediately saw a variety of fractures," Mr Dodd said. "The fractures looks very much like a motor vehicle accident."

Mr Dodd said there was no evidence of sexual assault. Kayla Hawkins was driving home to Wangaratta from work in Mytleford about 10pm on January 12 last year when she saw a red Citroen she would later read in the newspaper belonged to Ms Chetcuti Verbunt. She called Crime Stoppers to report seeing the car about 15 kilometres out of Myrtleford when it took the corner too fast from Whorouly Road onto Great Alpine Road, veering onto the wrong side. "It was night time so I didn't see anyone," she said.

At about 3am the next morning, taxi driver Mick Ralston received a call to pick up a man from Buffalo River Road, he later identified as Mr Cardamone. The passenger accepted the quoted rate of $120 for the trip back to his Whorouly home. "He said his car broke down and he didn't want to disturb his friends in Whorouly, that's why he got a taxi," Mr Ralston said. "He wasn't overly talkative." Border Mail