A series of bungles by officers handling the investigation into the murder of Karen Ristevski led to her husband Borce receiving a plea deal that is likely to see him walk free from prison in less than 20 years.
Daily Mail Australia has been told that police were caught on the hop when the 47-year old mother went missing from her Avondale Heights home in Melbourne's northwest in the early hours of June 29, 2016.
Ristevski took everyone by surprise when he pleaded guilty to his wife's manslaughter on Wednesday, on the eve of his murder trial.
Crown prosecutors decided to drop the murder charge after Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale ruled the prosecution could not use evidence about Ristevski's conduct after his wife's death to prove he had murderous intent.
The murder case had hinged on this evidence.
'Lots of egos get in the way of a good investigation,' a legal source told Daily Mail Australia.
Wife killer Borce Ristevski carries the coffin of his wife Karen. At the time he had denied killing her and carried out a shameful ruse. He pleaded guilty to her manslaughter this week
Karen Ristevski went missing from her Avondale heights home in 2016 sparking a nationwide 'who dunnit'. her body was found stuffed between two logs in bush land outside of Melbourne. Some now argue her killer will never truly receive justice
Multiple sources claim the Ristevski investigation was mismanaged by force command from the beginning, because Mrs Ristevski's disappearance was regarded simply as a missing person, rather than potentially a murder victim.
'It wasn’t handled correctly from the start by a crew of junior members and inexperienced bosses,' the insider said.
The revelations fly in the face of comments by Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton this week, who said investigators were 'relieved' by the plea deal.
'I think it allows for justice to move through a lot more quickly in that case,’ Mr Ashton said on Melbourne radio. 'I'm not disappointed, everyone's worked very hard on that case.'
But Daily Mail Australia has been told senior detectives are actually frustrated at the plea deal - particularly given the lessons that ought to have been learnt following the successful prosecution of Fernando Paulino, 55, in 2018.
Paulino stabbed his wife Teresa Paulino to death in the garage of her parents' Reservoir home, where she was living, in July 2013.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 25-years jail after being found guilty in a ground breaking trial for domestic murders.
Legal sources have told Daily Mail Australia the decision by Justice Beale should have come as no surprise to prosecutors after a similar ruling went against them in Paulino.
In that trial, Justice Kevin Bell set a benchmark for what investigators could expect when bringing suspected wife killers to court.
'Paulino set the benchmark for domestic-related murders,' a legal expert said.
Borce Ristevski is comforted at the funeral of his wife Karen. He pleaded guilty to killing her on the eve of his Supreme Court murder trial. He will now receive a heavily discounted sentence
Channel 7 reporter Cameron Baud flat out asked Ristevski (right) if he killed his wife. Baud - known in media circles as the Harvester of Sorrow - was bagged at the time. But his question has now been answered
Fernando Paulino was given similar opportunities at trial provided to Borce Ristevski. Unlike Ristevski, Paulino rolled the dice and ran a murder trial. It didn't end well for him
Teresa Paulino had been a doting mother to her two children. Her wicked ex-husband Fernando Paulino murdered her in cold blood and tried his best to get away with it. Justice was eventually served with a 30-year maximum jail tern being delivered his way
At the funeral of his wife, Ristevski broke down and cried in the arms of friends and family.
He sat in the front row of the church, and listened to friends and family tell stories of their enduring love, and how it ended too soon.
Later, alongside Mrs Ristevski's brother, Stephen Williams, he would carry his wife's coffin as a pallbearer at the emotional service in Essendon.
It was a truly galling performance.
In the months after his wife went missing, Ristevski and members of his extended family suggested his wife may have packed up and just left.
Ristevski's brother, Vasko, went so far as to claim she had jumped on a plane and left Australia on a fake passport.
