Vic: Korp case a public airing of very private lives

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2005
Vic: Korp case a public airing of very private lives

By Mike Hedge

MELBOURNE, Jan 16 AAP - It's a scenario common in American television cop shows.

Someone goes missing, a body is discovered, police arrive, the investigation begins
and the grief-stricken wife or husband becomes a suspect.

Thanks to some outstanding detective work, a mistress or a lover is unearthed, a couple
of twists and turns lead to a mysterious secret life and within an hour the case is tidied
up.

In Melbourne this week it happened for real - with a liberal dose of spice and a cast
of characters that included victim, husband and mistress, together with the recently deceased
captain of a paddle steamer and resourceful newspaper people who seemed to know more than
the police.

One big difference between the case of missing mother Maria Korp and the TV dramas
is that she didn't die.

But otherwise the truth in the Korp case is shaping up as stranger, and more interesting,
than fiction.

Maria Korp is a 50-year-old mother of two who works in a pantyhose factory.

She first came to public attention on February 10 when police announced they held grave
fears for her safety.

Mrs Korp hadn't been seen for more than 24 hours after she left her palatial home in
Melbourne's north-west for work on Wednesday last week.

Descriptions of her and her red Mazda car appeared in newspapers and on Sunday a security
guard at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance spotted the vehicle.

In the boot of the car, police found Mrs Korp alive, but gravely ill.

After being rushed to hospital, doctors put her into a medically induced coma in a
bid to assist her recovery.

As Mrs Korp lay in a critical condition, her husband Joe began a series of media appearances,
acknowledging he was a suspect.

It was also revealed that an intervention order had previously been taken out preventing
him from coming into contact with his wife.

He also admitted to having recently had an affair with a woman who had been married
to the recently deceased river boat captain, who had died of natural causes.

Mr Korp denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance.

Within 24 hours of the discovery of Mrs Korp in the boot of her car came the revelation
that separated this story from the rest.

The Korps, despite having been kept apart by the intervention order and Mr Korp acknowledging
his love affair, had apparently advertised on a internet "swingers" website their desire
to have sex with other females or couples.

Photographs of Mrs Korp and details of the couple's physical appearance and other personal
information, including their sexual orientation, appeared on the site.

The existence of Joe and Maria Korp's internet listing was revealed by a Melbourne
newspaper, which also provided the name of Mr Korp's alleged mistress and revealed that
she was the former wife of the dead river boat captain.

By mid-week, the police had arrested both Mr Korp and a 38-year-old woman in relation
to the incident.

Mrs Korp, meanwhile, lay in the Alfred Hospital, where investigators were waiting for
her to recover sufficiently to be brought out of her coma.

She will then, presumably, fill any gaps in a story that when told in full promises
to be better than TV.

AAP mh/dk/sp/tnf/evt/de

KEYWORD: KORP (BACKGROUNDER)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.