Police who found a dismembered body being cooked on a hob in an Australian home thought it was a Halloween prank, an inquest has heard.
Marcus Volke, who was 28 and worked as a chef, is alleged to have murdered, cut up and cooked his wife, Mayang Prasetyo, in October 2014.
Police made the grim discovery at the apartment after an electrician visited the property and became suspicious when seeing bin bags and chemicals. He told the building's management, who alerted police about a 'potential problem'.
Marcus Volke Credit: Facebook
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In a phone call to electrician Brad Coyne, Volke said: "Yeah, I got a bit of a problem. Um, I was cooking on my stove, it's an electric stove and the stock pot boiled over, dripped down and got into the oven and basically made this big bang and then all the power turned off."
He then asked: "Does it sound like something you'd be able to fix today?"
When Coyne went to the flat to carry out the work, Volke told him: "You have to mind the smell." Coyne would go on to tell officers the smell in the flat was like 'rotting meat'.
Credit: Facebook
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Police arrived at the property where Volke showed them his wounded hand and blamed his 'crazy' girlfriend for the injuries, the Australian reports.
When officers told him they would have to check inside the Brisbane property he became defensive before eventually telling them he would need to lock his dogs up.
However, he then locked the door, fled from the flat and hid in an industrial bin, before taking his own life.
When Constable Liam McWhinney and his partner, Senior Constable Bryan Reid, got into the apartment they found bloodstained floors and human feet cooking in a pot on the stove.
McWhinney told the inquest: "Originally I thought it was some sort of sick prank... Halloween or something. When I put two and two together, I realised it wasn't a prank.
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"There was a pool of blood at the base of the fridge."
Reid added: "It was a bad smell, it was something I hadn't smelt before - I can't really describe it. I'm thinking it could well be a murder that's happened."
Mayang Prasetyo Credit: Facebook
Volke met his transgender wife while they were both working as escorts, ABC reports. The inquest also heard that Volke was seeking treatment for mental health problems in the weeks running up to the couple's deaths.
Prasetyo worked as an escort to send money back to her family in Indonesia to help put her sisters through school.
The inquest, which will be examining both deaths, opened on Monday and is expected to last three days.
Sources: Yahoo; The Australian; ABC
Featured Image Credit: FacebookTopics: Prank, Police, halloween