It was the smell that drew police to the inner Brisbane apartment. <\/p>\n
A foul stench no one could quite place. Unmistakably foreign. <\/p>\n
But no one could have imagined the true horror that lay behind that apartment door. <\/p>\n
Human flesh in a large pot, removed from a nearby stovetop. <\/p>\n
Marcus Volke was a chef by trade a chef with a particular interest in bone broth. But the final broth the 27-year-old would make came not from a quest for healthy living. <\/p>\n
He made it to conceal a murder, and the sordid double life his family knew nothing about. <\/p>\n
The two officers who called at Volkes apartment, ostensibly for a welfare check, thought they had stumbled upon a sick prank. <\/p>\n
In the pot he had been using to cook his partner Mayang Prasetyos body parts, they found what appeared to be human feet. <\/p>\n
Other parts of Prasetyos dismembered remains were found in a garbage bag near the washing machine. <\/p>\n
The inquest into Prasetyos and Volkes deaths heard that Senior Constable Bryan Reid and Constable Luke McWhinney initially were called to conduct a routine welfare check late on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014. <\/p>\n
(There) was a bad smell, it was something I hadnt smelt before and cant really describe, Reid said on the opening day of the inquest in Brisbane on Monday. <\/p>\n
An electrician had earlier visited to restore power in Volkes apartment, which he had short-circuited when the pot on his stove boiled over. <\/p>\n
It was the electrician who raised the alarm. <\/p>\n
The building managers called police, concerned about that odd smell and that the woman who lived there with him had not been seen for a couple of days. <\/p>\n
Reid said Volke was initially cooperative when they questioned him outside his apartment. <\/p>\n
But when he went back inside, telling the officers he needed to secure the pairs dogs, Volke locked the door, self-harmed and jumped his balcony fence to escape to a rear alley. <\/p>\n
There was a pool of blood on the floor beside the pot that contained Prasetyos feet. <\/p>\n
Volke was later found dead inside an industrial garbage can. <\/p>\n
He had been seeking treatment for mental health problems in the weeks leading up to the death, the three-day inquest was told. <\/p>\n
Detective Sgt. Joshua Walsh told the court that the couple had met and struck a deal to help each other while working as escorts, according to police interviews ofVolkes former partners. <\/p>\n
She provided the information that they were residing together for an extended period of time, Walsh said. During that time, Marcus had accrued a debt of approximately $6,600 in credit cards, with no means of repaying it. <\/p>\n
The detective said Volke had worked as a chef part-time but was unable to continue because he had mental health problems. He decided to become a male escort in Melbourne clubs as a way of repaying the debt. <\/p>\n
Thats where he met Prasetyo, born Febri Andriansyah in Indonesia, who had begun transitioning into a woman before she moved to Australia. <\/p>\n
They came up with an agreement between the two parties that [Volke] would assist with her getting a permanent partner visa for Australia and she would assist him within transgender clubs within Melbourne and overseas, in Europe and Asia. <\/p>\n
The pair had traveled through Asia and Europe together, working as escorts in transgender clubs, the court heard. <\/p>\n
Walsh said Volke and his former partner later kept in regular contact through emails and Facebook. <\/p>\n
She was able to ascertain that he was struggling, with both his identity and his employment, and wanted to break free from that and start as a dog breeder in Brisbane upon his return, he said. On one occasion she stated that he was considering self-harm. <\/p>\n
The court was told thatVolke had presented to a doctor with anxiety, depression and a sleep disorder, and had previously been treated by a hospital as a teenager. <\/p>\n
The Double One 3 apartment complex in the up-market, riverside enclave of Teneriffe, Brisbane, was so new in early October 2014, a giant banner still hung on the side of the building advertising units for rent. <\/p>\n
Finishing touches were still being applied inside. <\/p>\n
Pieces of paper taped to walls directed residents to their new homes, for which investors had paid upwards of $450,000. <\/p>\n
Volke, who was raised in a small farming community, was among the first to move in. <\/p>\n
He and his young Indonesian wife, Prasetyo, had lived in a ground-floor apartment with their three small pugs for just a couple of months. <\/p>\n
During their brief tenure in the building, Prasetyo was frequently seen walking the dogs along the riverside paths and in parks nearby. <\/p>\n
On the surface, they were a young couple who had recently returned to Brisbane after working on cruise ships, he as a chef, she as a cabaret dancer. <\/p>\n
The reality was very, very different. <\/p>\n
Volke left his farm life after high school, but he soon discovered a lucrative new profession. <\/p>\n
At Pleasure Dome brothel, which promotes itself as having Australias finest selection of male escorts and transsexuals, he was introduced to fellow sex worker Prasetyo. <\/p>\n
She was working as a high-class transgender escort, eventually charging her clients $370 per hour. <\/p>\n
She sent the funds back to her impoverished mother and two younger sisters at home, paying for the girls to go to school. <\/p>\n
They had no idea how she was earning the money that supported them. <\/p>\n
The couple moved into private escort services after leaving the brothel and traveled the world plying their trade. <\/p>\n
They settled for a while in Denmark, where, under the name Heath XL, Volke advertised himself as a young sexy Australian boy, very friendly and easy going, discreet and professional. <\/p>\n
Im open to all kinds of people, ages, and backgrounds but if you are cool, serious and generous, then we can be a match! <\/p>\n
In 2013, the couple married in Copenhagen, after Volke asked his prospective mother-in-law for permission to marry her daughter on a return trip the couple made to Indonesia. <\/p>\n
While Prasetyos family knew of her marriage, Volkes family were completely in the dark. <\/p>\n
As far as they knew, the son who infrequently called home and occasionally visited alone was traveling the world while cooking on cruise ships. <\/p>\n
They knew nothing of Prasetyos existence, or of their sons double life. <\/p>\n
The extent of his deception was not revealed until after his death. <\/p>\n
In addition to coming to terms with the grief of suddenly losing their son, his parents also had to absorb the details of his sordid life being so publicly exposed. <\/p>\n
When reporters came knocking at the family property in the days following the deaths, Volkes clearly distressed father, Peter, a karate instructor, chased them away. <\/p>\n
The 27-year-old was bid farewell in a small, private funeral service. <\/p>\n
Media interest was high but they were told, in no uncertain terms, they were not welcome. <\/p>\n
Volke and his new wife returned to Australia nearly a year after their August 2013 marriage in Copenhagen. <\/p>\n
Like many affluent young professionals, they chose to live in Brisbane. <\/p>\n
Brisbane boasts plentiful cafes, bars and boutiques, among the rustic, riverside red brick buildings that once operated as wool stores, now converted to sought-after apartments. <\/p>\n
The couple both continued to work as private escorts. <\/p>\n
Friends and family hinted that, despite their recent marriage, their relationship was a volatile one. <\/p>\n
None of them could have foreseen the horror to come. <\/p>\n
Neighbors heard Volke and his wife fighting inside their apartment late on Oct. 2. <\/p>\n
Prasetyo was not seen again. <\/p>\n
In the days following the discovery of her remains, Detective Senior Sgt. Tom Armitt said investigators did not believe the murder was a premeditated one, but the tragic outcome of a heated domestic dispute. <\/p>\n
The true circumstances of her death may never be known. <\/p>\n
But while Volke may not have intended to kill Prasetyo, he went to extreme lengths to cover up her murder. <\/p>\n
It was not just the inevitable charges and loss of his liberty that was looming. <\/p>\n
The discovery of her death would also expose the life he had so carefully hidden for so many years. <\/p>\n
Stuck with his wifes body in a heavily populated area, Volke got to work disposing of it. <\/p>\n
He took out a large pot and one of his chefs knives and cut her into pieces. <\/p>\n
It is not known exactly when he hatched his disturbing plan. <\/p>\n
But by Saturday, there was that distinctive stench pervading the air of the Double One 3 complex. It was the first sign that something was amiss in Volkes apartment. <\/p>\n
It was similar to rotting meat, some residents later told police. Like dog food, others reported. <\/p>\n
The smell itself may not have ever been enough for residents to call police and Volke may well have gotten away with murder. <\/p>\n
But on that Saturday, two days after Prasetyos death, the tide turned. <\/p>\n
The pot Volke was using to cook parts of his wifes body boiled over and into the electric oven. <\/p>\n
The appliance short-circuited and cut the power supply to the apartment. <\/p>\n
To carry out his plan, Volke had no choice but to phone an electrician. <\/p>\n
He sounded casual when he called Brad Coyne. <\/p>\n
Gday, is this a 24-hour electrician? he asked in that phone call. <\/p>\n
Yeah, came Coynes reply. <\/p>\n
Ive got a bit of a problem. <\/p>\n
Later that day, Coyne knocked on the apartment door. <\/p>\n
You have to mind the smell, Volke said to him. <\/p>\n
He was cooking pigs broth, he explained to the electrician, who already suspected otherwise. <\/p>\n
Garbage bags were strewn around the apartment. <\/p>\n
There were bottles of chemicals and rubber gloves, the smell of bleach mingling with that odd, foul stench. <\/p>\n
He restored the power and left the apartment. <\/p>\n
On the way out, he talked to the building manager and police were called. <\/p>\n
Within hours, Volke would also take his own life. <\/p>\n
Investigating police officers Reid and McWhinney responded to the building managers request for the welfare check. <\/p>\n
The scene that confronted the officers in that nearly new unit was particularly gruesome. <\/p>\n
Volke instinctively fled. <\/p>\n
He slashed his own throat inside the apartment before jumping his balcony fence, which faced an alley behind the building, leaving it smeared with blood. <\/p>\n
He continued to leave a blood trail as he ran and hid in an industrial garbage can in a nearby alley. <\/p>\n
With a suspected murderer on the loose, police quickly mobilized and soon an estimated 15 officers swarmed the area. <\/p>\n
For years, Volke had successfully concealed his marriage and life as a male sex worker. <\/p>\n
As he hid from police in the wheeled garbage can, it was all on the brink of exposure. <\/p>\n
It was inside the can that he died, the blood streaming from his throat. Subsequent CPR attempts by police and paramedics were utterly hopeless. <\/p>\n
The investigation into Volke and Prasetyos death was a lengthy and painstaking one. <\/p>\n
The Queensland Ethical Standards Command, the body reserved for internal police investigations, led the probe, as Volke was on the run from two officers when he took his life. <\/p>\n
This week, Coroner Terry Ryan will hear submissions to make the final ruling on one of Brisbanes most gruesome cases of murder-suicide. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\nChef who killed trans wife undone by smell of boiled human flesh - New York Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"