A man has been charged with murder after a nine-year-old girl disappeared in the NSW Blue Mountains.
Charlise Mutten's stepdad, 32-year-old Justin Stein has been arrested and charged, and he will face court this morning.
Stein comes from a wealthy family who own the Wildenstein wedding venue where Charlise was last seen.
Mutten was last seen on Thursday afternoon on the verandah of the wedding venue.
Charlise Mutten's stepdad has been charged with her murder
But police were only notified of her disappearance at 8.20am the following day.
One theory circulating is that the youngster was whisked away from the property in a mysterious car with no headlights.
On Tuesday, John Haitzler - who lives next to the Steins and claims he previously had a nasty confrontation with Charlise's stepdad - told Daily Mail Australia his wife Carole was reading at 4.30am on Friday when she heard the sound of a car on the driveway.
Charlise Mutten (pictured) was not reported missing for more than 12 hours after she was last seen on Thursday afternoon
John Haitzler (pictured) says his wife Carole saw a vehicle with no headlights leave the Stein's driveway at 4.30am on Friday - approximately four hours before police were notified of Charlise's disappearance
'She got out of bed and went to the window and saw a shadow moving,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'It is very quiet here at night and you can see the headlights - there weren't any on.'
Investigators have been scouring the scene since Charlise (pictured) went missing
Mr Haitzler said his wife couldn't see what make of car it was or who was driving it, but that he reported it to police after he heard a little girl had gone missing from next door.
The orchardist said the Stein family were known to leave their property in the middle of the night, but the headlights were always on.
Mr Haitzler also said Mr Stein lived 'in a shack' on the grounds of Wildenstein and had been there with a different girlfriend when he had got into trouble more than five years ago with 'drug dealing on the property'.
Police confirmed on Friday that a neighbour saw a car with no headlights leave the property.
Later that day, they seized Mr Stein's red Colorado ute in Penrith for forensic examination.
Police have seized Mr Stein's red ute (pictured) as part of their investigation, which will be forensically examined
Her distressed mum Kallista Mutten (pictured, left and right, with Charlise) was consoled by emergency workers on Saturday
Charlise Mutten was last seen on Thursday afternoon. She was reported missing on Friday
TIMELINE OF CHARLISE MUTTEN'S DISAPPEARANCE
January 13: Charlise Mutten, nine, was last seen on the verandah of an estate called Wildenstein in Mount Wilson, north-west of Sydney.
January 14: Charlise was reported missing at 8.20am. Police flocked to the 12.5-acre wedding venue and established a crime scene.
Neighbours told detectives they saw a car at 4.20am on Friday, with no headlights on.
Investigators seized a Holden Colorado ute on High Street in Penrith for forensic testing, which belongs to her mother's fiance.
Her mother Kallista Mutten, 31, collapsed and was taken to hospital.
Ms Mutten's fiancé Justin Stein, whose family owns the lavish property, spoke with police in Penrith.
January 15: Homicide detectives took over the search.
Police divers seized a boat in the Hawkesbury River and scanned it for fingerprints. The boat will also be kept for forensic testing.
Investigators continued to scour fire trails in dense bushland surrounding the property.
January 16: RFS volunteers found 'very small and barefooted' prints along a fire trail.
'Certain items' have been uncovered by detectives, but police have not been able to determine the schoolgirl's whereabouts.
January 17: A convoy of five police vehicles and detectives on foot entered the property around 11.30am.
One detective ordered media to 'leave, now!' from outside the gates of the five hectare wedding venue retreat
A police bus followed by unmarked police cars rolled through the gates as a uniformed officer stood guard.
Earlier, plain clothes child protection squad officers drove into the property.
Ms Mutten will be questioned by police.
January 18: Police say Charlise will likely be 'lethargic' and 'stationary' if she's lost in the bush.
January 19: Charlise's step dad Justin Stein is charged with her murder
RFS volunteers (pictured) were deployed to the area to search for the nine-year-old and have been combing bushland
Police told volunteers that Charlise would likely be exhausted lying still if she was lost in the bush
Pictured: Police vehicles moving down the driveway at Wildenstein - the five-hectare property in Mount Wilson
Pictured: RFS volunteers on Tuesday. Rescue workers have been searching for five days
WHO'S WHO IN CHARLISE MUTTEN'S FAMILY
JUSTIN STEIN - THE STEP-FATHER CHARGED WITH HER MURDER
Stein comes from a wealthy family who own the Wildenstein estate where Charlise was last seen. It is a well known wedding venue in the Blue Mountains.
CHARLISE MUTTEN
Nine-year-old Charlise Mutten was last seen on the verandah of her step-father's sprawling family home on Thursday, January 13.
She was not reported missing until 8.20am the next morning.
Police and volunteers have been scouring the Wildenstein estate and surrounds since they first learned of her disappearance.
DEBORAH MUTTEN - THE GRANDMOTHER
Charlise lives with her maternal grandmother, Deborah Mutten, in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast.
Ms Mutten is a local artist who dotes on her granddaughter.
She shared a sweet photo with Charlise on January 5, just days before she vanished.
On January 10, she admitted she was 'struggling quite a bit'. This was after she'd agreed to allow Charlise to visit her mum in a different state.
KALLISTA MUTTEN - THE MOTHER
Charlise's mother Kallista Mutten recently spent two years in jail after she was convicted of dangerous driving occasioning death and driving under the influence of an illicit drug.
She was released from jail in 2019 and was no longer using drugs after a stint in rehab and prison.
It's unclear how involved Mutten has been in her daughter's life, but she was granted the opportunity to spend some time with Charlise over the summer school holidays before she vanished.
Charlise and Kallista were at the sprawling family estate of her fiancé, Justin Stein, when the nine-year-old vanished.
THE FATHER
Charlise's biological father - who has not been named - is 'absolutely shattered' the nine-year-old is missing, a friend said on Tuesday.
He, along with his family and friends, are hopeful she'll be found safe and unharmed.
It's still unclear how much time Charlise spends with her biological parents - if any.
Pictured: RFS volunteers during a briefing on Tuesday morning. Heavy fog descended on the area later that evening
Police an emergency crews have been at the Mount Wilson property for five days (pictured on Tuesday)
INSIDE CHARLISE MUTTEN'S COMPLICATED FAMILY TREE
A former drug addict mother, stepdad on parole and doting grandmother who 'struggled' after letting the missing nine-year-old travel to Sydney to reconnect with her family
- By Brittany Chain for Daily Mail Australia
As Christmas passed and school holidays dragged on, missing schoolgirl Charlise Mutten's doting grandmother agreed to let the nine-year-old visit her mother in Sydney.
The summer trip was the perfect opportunity for mother and daughter to reconnect after Covid-enforced border closures and a jail stint had driven them apart.
Charlise lives with her grandmother, Deborah Mutten, in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast and attends a local primary school south of the border, where she's known as a spritely and cheerful student.
Deborah shared a sweet photo just two weeks ago on January 5. With the ocean as a backdrop, Charlise leaned back and kissed her beaming grandmother on the cheek.
Five days later, after Charlise had already made the trip to NSW to see her mother, Deborah confessed to a friend she was 'struggling'.
Deborah shared a sweet photo just two weeks ago on January 5. With the ocean as a backdrop, Charlise leaned back and kissed her beaming grandmother on the cheek
'A bit of silly business was needed to lift the mood,' she said alongside a photo of herself using a comedic Snapchat filter.
'Struggling a bit to be quite honest.'
Then, on January 14, she learned her beloved granddaughter had vanished while in the temporary care of her daughter, Kallista Mutten.
Now Charlise's disappearance puts a halt on what should have been a chance for Ms Mutten to bond and reconnect with her daughter after so many missed moments.
Ms Mutten was jailed in November 2017, when Charlise was just five, after she was convicted of dangerous driving occasioning death and driving with an illicit substance in her system.
It's understood Charlise was handed over to her grandmother to care for her at the time.
The court heard Ms Mutten was an ice addict and using two to three points every day when she swerved off the road and into the Tweed River, killing her passenger and friend, 53-year-old Karen 'Kaz' Bunch.
After the crash, Ms Mutten checked herself in to a rehab facility, but relapsed and began using again, the court heard.
She was also expelled from a clinic at Logan in Queensland after she threatened a fellow resident with violence.
It's unclear if Ms Mutten ever regained full time custody after her stint in jail.
Stein comes from a wealthy family who moved to the Blue Mountains from Perth around the time he was born.
They own and operate the Wildenstein estate where Charlise was last seen - which is known as an exclusive wedding venue - as well as a jeweler in the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney's CBD.
Charlise's biological father - who has not been named - is 'absolutely shattered' the nine-year-old is missing, a friend said on Tuesday.
He, along with his family and friends, are hopeful she'll be found safe and unharmed.
English (United States) ·