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Husband of suspected murder victim kills himself as police investigation gets underway
The husband of a woman who went missing allegedly following a row has committed suicide as police reveal they consider her death suspicious.
Tanja Ebert, a 23-year-old German-born woman had been married to 41-year-old Michael Burdon for just 6 months when the mother of two was reported missing by a relative.
When interviewed by police about his wife, Mr Burdon says that the pair had fought on the long drive back from Adelaide to their remote property, Oulnina Park Station, in rural South Australia.
‘Tanja became agitated in the car and expressed to him that she didn’t want to go back to Mannahill, and he stopped the car,’ says Major Crime officer-in-charge Detective Superintendent Des Bray.
He then says he never saw her again. However investigators consider it ‘unusual’ that she would have left her children along with her phone, bag, passport, and drivers license behind in the car.
During the press conference Der Supt Bray told media that their investigation would focus on Mr Burdon either to ‘eliminate or incriminate’ him, since he was the last person to see Ms Ebert alive.
It was just minutes after this press conference was given that Mr Burdon shot and killed himself, leaving the couple’s two children orphaned.
The search is now underway along the highway and on the couple’s property for the body of Ms Ebert, whose heartbroken parents are flying out from Germany.
This article first published in New Idea.
