Danny Clarke, 41, Dimitri D’Elio, 27, and Kylie Stott, 40, all of Shepparton, are each charged with murder, kidnapping and arson over the death of Charlie Gander, whose body was found in a burnt car on December 24, 2022.
They are on trial in the Melbourne Supreme Court. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution alleges the trio kidnapped 19-year-old Mr Gander, killed him, and then burnt his body in a car they set fire to on a remote road at Bunbartha.
Prosecutor Mark Gibson KC told the court analysis of Mr D’Elio’s phone found that on Christmas Day 2022 — the day after Mr Gander’s body was found — he had Google searched the topics ‘dead body in burned car’, ‘dead body in burned car, Victoria’ and ‘dead body in burned car, Shepparton, Victoria’.
On Boxing Day, Mr D’Elio googled ‘murder Shepparton’.
Mr Gibson told the court the first reports of the incident were not in the media until December 28 — two days after the second Google search.
Earlier, Mr Gibson told the court the three accused had watched a video of a police interview Mr Gander did after he was arrested at Ms Stott’s friend Tyson May’s house when police went there to do a firearms prohibition order compliance check on November 17, 2022.
Mr Gander ran out the back door with a homemade gun and threw it over the fence, but had told police Tyson May had told him to get rid of it.
Mr Gibson said this trial was a case of “retribution” against Mr Gander for what the accused perceived as him “dobbing” on Tyson May.
Ms Stott and Mr D’Elio told Tyson May’s brother, Brandon May, that Mr Gander was “a rat” and had “lagged on his brother”, Mr Gibson said.
The court was shown a text message Brandon May received from Mr D’Elio on December 17 asking him if he “wanted to go fishing”, followed by ones from Ms Stott on December 22 saying “Wanna come on a miss adventurous (sic) fishing trip this morning” and “Going to a secret fishing spot to catch a big Charlie carp”.
The prosecution alleges these messages referred to Mr Gander, Mr Gibson said.
The court was told Mr Gander borrowed his friend’s Ford Territory and drove from Benalla — where he was living — to Shepparton on December 23.
He told another friend he was going to Shepparton to buy drugs and would be back in Benalla that night.
The court was then told phone tower data that showed Mr Gander and Ms Stott’s phone accessing the same phone towers in Shepparton at 11.30pm, which Mr Gibson said showed they were in close proximity to each other or were together.
CCTV video shows the Ford Territory Mr Gander had been driving and Mr D’Elio’s Holden Caprice travelling to Mr Clarke’s house in Sunbury Rd at 1.44am on December 24.
At 6.15am, Mr Clarke drove the Ford Territory to Shepparton Plaza and withdrew $60 from an ATM using Mr Gander’s bank card.
The prosecution alleges the trio and Mr Gander went to Reedy Swamp from 7.08am for two hours in the Territory and Caprice.
At 9.26am the Territory — which the prosecution says was being driven by Mr D’Elio — was seen on CCTV on Loch Garry Rd at Bunbartha.
The Caprice followed five minutes later.
The prosecution alleges Mr Gander’s body was put in the Ford Territory and it was set alight about 9.39am on Loch Garry Rd, near the intersection with Loch West Rd.
Mr Gibson said the trio then went to Nathalia, before driving the long way home via Undera and Mooroopna.
The jury was also told that after doing a post-mortem on Mr Gander’s body a pathologist said the cause of death was “unascertained”.
However, they said Mr Gander was “likely to have been dead before being exposed to the fire”.
Mr Gander was also found to have 7.7 milligrams per litre of methamphetamines in his body, which Mr Gibson said was a “high level” of the drug.
Searches of Mr Clarke’s Sunbury Rd house, where all three were staying, found items including a pair of runners that had blood on the heel that was “100 billion times the likelihood” of belonging to Mr Gander, Mr Gibson said.
A kitchen knife wrapped in a towel was found with blood on it that was 100 billion times more likely to be Mr Gander’s than anyone’s else’s was found in the Caprice.
Mr D’Elio’s fingerprint was found on the knife blade and the DNA of all three accused was found on the handle.
Swabs of blood on the front passenger door also contained blood that DNA showed was 100 billion times more likely to belong to Mr Gander than someone else.
Also in the car were Mr Gander’s debit card and his phone case.
The trial before Justice Michael Croucher continues.
