Decades on, the disputed phrasing still intrigues the lead detective for the cold case that gripped Sydney in the late 1990s.
When model and sex worker Revelle Balmain vanished, her boss allegedly made a call referring to her having been murdered.
Decades on, the disputed phrasing still intrigues the lead detective for the cold case that gripped Sydney in the late 1990s.
Balmain was 22 and had grand plans to travel in Japan when she disappeared on November 5, 1994.
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She had attended a booking with client Gavin Samers before he dropped her at a hotel in suburban Kingsford about 7pm.
Her boss, Jane King, told police she and husband Zoran Stanojevic dined at a pizza restaurant on the afternoon of Balmain's disappearance.
While police haven't been able to confirm the couple went to the restaurant on that day, the case's lead detective on Monday said a witness reported King calling the manager afterwards.
They recalled King asking the manager to verify that she and her husband had been at the restaurant because her employee "had been murdered".
"The words used were quite intriguing," Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Bell told a Sydney court.
King disputed the witness's account, saying she said the word "missing" not "murdered".
But the lead detective queried why she felt the need to contact the restaurant to substantiate her whereabouts.
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"I find that odd," he told the inquest into Balmain's disappearance.
The detective found King's claim she had reported her employee missing "very strange", noting he found no police records to support it.
Balmain owed the company about $400 at the time of her disappearance and King knew she was preparing to leave the country imminently, the inquest was told.
There are lingering questions around calls King made that night, Detective Inspector Bell added, as well as her husband's whereabouts between 6.30pm and 10.30pm.
The detective wanted to know more about Stanojevic's knowledge of Balmain's appointment on the day she vanished and his associations with two Serbian clients.
It was stressed throughout the investigation that the men had been important clients and it was necessary to understand why, Bell said.
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The duo returned to Europe after Balmain's disappearance and a request to the Serbian government for assistance had been pending since 2021, the inquest heard.
The detective's unresolved questions were aired during the first day of a resumed inquest into Balmain's disappearance that began in 2024.
King and Stanojevic are scheduled to give evidence before the coroner later in the week.
A previous inquest in 1999 found Balmain died at the hands of a person or persons unknown and the matter was referred to unsolved homicide detectives.
A fresh investigation between 2007 and 2009 followed by a formal review in 2020 failed to produce any compelling new evidence.
Authorities offered a $1 million reward for information in 2021, a year after Det Insp Bell took charge of the investigation.
The inquest runs until Thursday.
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