Paper claims Rockefeller chainsawed

Gruesome new revelations have emerged about the murder of Herman Rockefeller, claiming that the former New Zealand Brierley executive was dismembered with a A$99 ($121) chainsaw after being killed during a sex tryst that turned violent.

Rockefeller's burned remains were found in the cluttered backyard of a Department of Human Services house in the Melbourne suburb of Glenroy following a massive manhunt launched when the 51-year-old millionaire vanished on January 21 after a four-day business trip.

Alleged swingers Mario Schembri, 57, and Bernadette Denny, 41, have been charged with his murder and will appear in court again on May 24.

The killing of Rockefeller, a Harvard graduate who was Brierley Investments' New Zealand-based chief financial officer for eight years, has rocked Australia.

The revelations reported in Melbourne's Herald Sun yesterday have added macabre details to Rockefeller's secret sex life while appearing to be a happily married husband and father of two in the affluent suburb of East Malvern, and working as a director of 45 companies with interests across Australia.

It had already become known that he had a secret girlfriend and a covert life through internet sex sites, where he had allegedly met Schembri and Denny.

The pair admitted having been involved in an altercation with Rockefeller the night he went missing, and to having assisted in the disposal of the body.

Police initially alleged he was murdered at Denny's home in inner-city Hadfield, and later incinerated and buried at a house in nearby Glenroy.

The Herald Sun said that he was killed in a fight that erupted after he arrived without his "wife" for a sex tryst with Schembri and Denny.

Rockefeller should have been home celebrating the success of one of his daughters, who had just been accepted to study medicine. Instead, he drove from Melbourne Airport to Denny's house, where he was known as Andy Kingston, one of several internet aliases.

Schrembi and Denny had been expecting him to arrive with his wife, as they had agreed.

The Herald Sun said that in an advertisement he placed in a swingers' magazine, Rockefeller had claimed to be part of a fun-loving couple looking for like-minded people. When he arrived alone, violence erupted.

The newspaper said the exact cause of his death was the subject of a coroner's examination and - because his body was burned - might be difficult to determine.

It said the homicide squad was told Rockefeller was taken to Heathcote, near Bendigo, and may have been alive as he was transported in the back of a car.

At some point he was driven back to Melbourne's northern suburbs and his body dismembered with a chainsaw bought the same day.

The Herald Sun said the body had been burned on January 26, Australia Day, and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade had confirmed it was called to check the fire.

Rockefeller's Toyota Prius had been found the previous day at Ballan, 80km north of Melbourne. The Herald Sun said police were investigating whether a tow truck was used to transport the car to where it was found.