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In the hours after Milena Bogojevska bound, gagged and killed her elderly neighbour, she shopped for shoes and lottery tickets.
Using the slain woman’s bank card, Bogojevska spent thousands on online and in-store purchases, paid off a $30 cigarette debt and stopped to take washing to her local laundromat, the Blue Hippo.
The Supreme Court heard as Bogojevska strolled around town, Lolene Joy Whitehand’s panicked neighbours were searching for the much-loved, fiercely independent woman after realising she’d vanished from the street she’d lived in for more than 40 years.
A fisherman eventually came across the body of the 85-year-old, face down in the Maribyrnong River, south of Flemington Racecourse, thrown away like garbage. She was bruised, gagged with a tea towel and wrapped in plastic.
Whitehand had two children, Gary and Samantha, and moved to West Footscray with her second husband in the ’80s. When he died in 2012, she remained living alone and well-connected to her neighbours, visiting her sister in a Kingsville aged care home each day.
The court heard she’d attend the same post office weekly to collect her pension in cash and pay her bills.
Bogojevska, 51, lived a few houses down from Whitehand, in a two-bedroom home with her teenage son.
On July 12, 2024, Whitehand visited her sister before arriving home about 4pm, with the help of a walking stick. A neighbour noticed her entering Bogojevska’s front yard, which they thought was a “strange occurrence” as they weren’t known to be close.
Hours later, the killer rifled through the victim’s home where she stole cash, wallets, jewellery, cards, and a floral bag.
At 6.10pm, CCTV showed Bogojevska leave home with the 85-year-old’s body in the boot of her car, travelling to the river where she pushed the body along the ground and rolled it over the riverbank.
Within minutes, she arrived at Coles in Yarraville where she bought a $100 Apple gift card and lottery tickets worth $215.
Upon returning home, Bogojevska stood with neighbours in the street as police searched the missing woman’s home.
“No I haven’t seen her for seven days,” the former cleaner on a disability support pension was heard saying on a police body-worn camera.
Later that day, Bogojevska made further purchases online including three pairs of running shoes.
An autopsy found Whitehead weighed 47 kilograms at the time of her death, had a blue school bag wrapped around her neck and face, a blood-soaked tea towel in her throat, and bruising to her face, neck, head and chest.
In victim impact statements read out to the court, Whitehand’s friends and family expressed distress at her killing.
The court heard her son, Gary O’Brien, died just two days ago after penning a statement which was read out by the prosecution.
“I have deep sadness with the death of my mother and the way her life was ended. I keep picturing my mother being found in the river,” he wrote.
“I miss my mother’s voice.”
Neighbour Kirraly Schumann sobbed as she spoke of the love her family had for Whitehand, whom she’d known for two decades.
A plaque, she said, now hung from a tree in the street to help remember Whitehand by.
“This crime not only hurt my family, it also affected our whole neighbourhood. For her 80th birthday we knew she was not seeing any family so we organised a surprise birthday party at our house. Boy did she get a surprise,” Schumann said.
“She had a great day surrounded by her adoptive grandkids. She’s in our hearts and we’ll never ever forget her. We think about her every day. We loved her.”
Bogojevska was arrested on July 16, 2024 with the victim’s bank card. Police had been led to her, in part, by the school bag discarded with Whitehand’s body – which had Bogojevska’s son’s name scrawled on it.
During her police interview, the killer repeatedly lied, telling detectives her neighbour was a “really nice lady”.
“I’m not a killer. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Defence barrister Amy Brennan said her client was born in Macedonia where her childhood was marred by hardship and deprivation.
After her parents died, she moved to Australia with her siblings, but when she refused an arranged marriage, she was kicked out and forced to move into a refuge.
Bogojevska, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, will be sentenced at a later date.
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