By Josephine Lim, Adam Langenberg, Ben Harvy - The Advertiser
Two young boys have been orphaned after their mother was believed murdered by their father, who yesterday took his own life as police searched the couple's Mid-North grazing property for the woman's body.
Newlywed Tanja Ebert, 23, was last seen on a family outing in Adelaide nine days ago with her husband Michael Burdon, 41, and their two young sons, aged 3 and 1.
Yesterday, police publicly revealed their fears she had been murdered amid problems in the couple's six-month-old marriage.
Senior police believed Ebert was "unhappy" and that the husband claimed this had culminated in a row as they drove almost 400km home from Adelaide last Tuesday.
But Ebert was not reported missing until late on Thursday, by another unnamed relative.
Just minutes after a police press conference yesterday, Burdon killed himself at their remote sheep station at Mannahill, northeast of Adelaide, as Major Crime detectives searched the property.
Burdon, a popular sheep grazier, had been questioned at length - including earlier in the day - since the disappearance of his German-born wife.
Detectives are expected to widen their search of the property, Oulnina Park Station, 65km east of Yunta, in an effort to locate Ebert, on Thursday.
An independent Police Commissioner's Inquiry has begun into Burdon's suicide.
The couple's two young children are in the care of relatives and were uninjured.
The remote 400sq km property, 22km south of Mannahill, on the Barrier Highway between Peterborough and Broken Hill, was also locked down to prevent car tracks being disturbed.
Major Crime officer-in-charge Detective Superintendent Des Bray said the husband had told police about a row the couple had near Roseworthy, next to grain silos about 1.5km north of a service station they stopped at on Main North Rd.
"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," he said. The husband claims he never saw her again.
Officers are in contact with her parents in Europe and diplomats.
Her parents, who had visited Australia recently, are expected to travel to Adelaide shortly.
Baffled friends told the Advertiser of their growing fears for her safety as they said she would never leave behind her sons without explanation.
They had taken to social media to appeal for information after police first raised concerns about her welfare at the weekend.
But as their fears escalated, a revised statewide call for information was issued on yesterday afternoon.
In what detectives described as "quite unusual", she had left behind her personal possessions and, crucially, her children. They also said there was no "documented proof she had any mental illness".
The dramatic events started with a co-ordinated search operation, involving dozens of police - from Major Crime, Port Pirie CIB, STAR group, mounted police and Barossa Valley-based uniform officers. They scoured farmland near Roseworthy, 55km north of Adelaide, for Ebert's body.
The extensive search centred around the Roseworthy grain silos, along the Horrocks Highway, and included doorknocking neighbouring homes. Locals could shed no light on the disappearance.
Simultaneously, Major Crime detectives and forensic officers searched the sprawling sheep station near Mannahill.
At 2.30pm, several hours after the search had failed to find any clues, senior police publicly appealed for help on her possible whereabouts. During the press conference, Bray revealed investigations were concentrating on Burdon because he was the last person to see her alive and those inquiries would either "eliminate him or incriminate" him.
Burdon, her partner of four years, maintained his innocence and said he had not seen Ebert after she had left their car following an argument.
Ebert, who arrived in Australia in 2012, left her phone, her bag, her passport and driver's licence in the car, along with her two young boys.
Bray said it would be "unfair" to label her husband as the suspect, but there were no signs of Ebert being alive despite extensive inquiries.
"But common sense says - and I'm sure the husband understands a case like this when a person's reported missing or in fact in any homicide - generally police will have a good look at the person that's last with the person," he said.
"The reason we do that is either [to] eliminate that person completely from the investigation or to incriminate them, but at the same time pursuing every other line of inquiry and considering every possibility.
"In the absence of anything to indicate that Tanja's alive, we're treating it as a murder investigation, but we're hoping for a miracle that she's walked through the door."
Burdon told police Ebert got out of the car and walked off with "a large amount of cash", which police refused to provide details about.
"He continued home to Mannahill and never saw her again," Bray said.
"We're unable to find anything consistent with Tanja being alive - for example, no contact with friends, no Facebook posts, no expenses, no sightings that can be confirmed - and so our concerns increased."
Bray said there were unconfirmed reports that Ebert "had indicated she was considering leaving" and going to New South Wales.
He said it was "extremely unlikely" the young mother was still alive as police had put in "an extreme amount of effort to find" any indication she might be safe and well somewhere but they have had no results.
The couple married in February and police said there was "no adverse interaction between police and her husband's family or her in the past".
At 3.03pm an ambulance was called to the family property after Burdon killed himself.
Their children were safe and with family members, police said. They were seen leaving the house in the back of a relative's stationwagon.
Yunta residents said the couple were popular and well-known around town and always seemed "happy".
The pair, along with their children, would often stop at Yunta on their way to Adelaide and were rarely seen apart.
Locals said they hoped Ebert was safe and well, and it was hard to imagine her partner was responsible.
"It is unthinkable but I can't believe that he would do anything, he was nice," one said.
August 8, 3.20pm: Ebert was shown on CCTV being at the SA Museum with Burdon and their two children.
August 8, 7pm: Police say the family stopped at a BP service station on Main North Rd, Roseworthy, where Burdon bought drinks for his family.
Shortly after, about 1.5km north of the service station, Burdon told police that Ebert "became agitated" and got out of the car before walking off, and he continued driving to the family farm, Oulnina Park Station, near Mannahill, with their boys.
August 10, 10.30am: An unnamed relative rings police to report Ebert's disappearance.
August 13: Police release two photos of Ebert asking for help from the public for any relevant information on her disappearance.
Wednesday, 11am: Police launched a ground and air search near the Roseworthy wheat silos where Ebert was said to have left the family car. Nothing of significance was found. At the same time, detectives searched the couple's property, which is 65km east of Yunta.
2.40pm: Bray conducts a media conference in Adelaide.
3.03pm: Paramedics called to Oulnina Park amid reports a 41-year-old man had died while police were present at the property.
4:50pm: Police announce Commissioner's inquiry has been launched into the "death in custody" after Burdon's death.
This story was originally published by the Advertiser.
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