Holiday pair dead unlucky

By Callan Date
A NARRE Warren couple who were feared dead by police have apologised after a major homicide investigation was launched last Monday.
An uncanny set of coincidences led to family members and homicide squad detectives believing Heather and William Ostell had been murdered.
But faces of despair turned to relief when the couple crashed a media conference, which was just about to begin at the front of their Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road property, about their disappearance,
Ms Ostell, 58, could see the lighter side of the chain of events. Her daughter, who first contacted police, could not.
“I have got some serious sucking up to do,” Ms Ostell said.
The drama began when the couple changed their long weekend holiday plans at the last minute, without notifying one daughter.
“We were originally going to go fossicking for gold but we changed our mind and decided to go to Lakes Entrance.”
Ms Ostell said the fact that their 1975 orange Volkswagen Kombi van was not at the house had caused great concern to their daughter.
“I normally don’t travel in the Kombi and have said before that I would never travel in it, but my husband said we should take it out and give the motor a run.”
Add to that an open front door, a wandering pet dog, a flat mobile phone battery and a few other things that weren’t quite right and you have a murder investigation.
Ms Ostell said she could see how the house “looked awfully suspicious” when she returned home.
“My family had been trying to contact me since Friday but we were just blissfully ignorant. We hadn’t heard anything on the radio or in the papers.”
Ms Ostell was apologetic over all the fuss that had been created.
“We are so sorry for all the man power and resources that were wasted. The police were absolutely fantastic,” she said.
Senior Sergeant Charlie Bezzina of the Homicide Squad said he was also happy with the end result.