Car-boot woman on cyber sex site

CANBERRA - The mystery surrounding Maria Korp, the woman found in the boot of her car four days after vanishing from her Melbourne home, took another bizarre twist yesterday when it emerged that she and her husband were members of an on-line sexual dating service, with their details last viewed the day she disappeared.

Police are now investigating any links between the Korps' posting on the AdultMatchMaker website and the events that led to the chance discovery on Sunday of Maria Korp, unconscious and critically ill, locked in her red Mazda 626 near Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance.

Korp yesterday remained in a medically-induced coma at the Alfred Hospital.

Her husband, Joseph Korp, is banned from visiting her under the terms of a restraining order she originally took out following an affair he had with another woman, but lifted the day before she vanished.

Police said they had successfully applied for the reinstatement of the order to ensure Maria Korp's earlier wishes were respected until she had regained consciousness and was able to talk to detectives.

They have also said Joseph Korp is a suspect, despite his denials of any involvement. He was the last person known to have seen his wife before she vanished last Wednesday.

Homicide detectives were called in to investigate after she failed to turn up for work, and to collect her son, Damien, after school.

They found no trace of the missing mother of two from Mickleham, in Melbourne's northwest, until a security guard at the Shrine of Remembrance recognised the Mazda from media reports and called police.

A dehydrated Maria Korp was not discovered until forensic officers opened the boot, an hour after they began their examination of the car.

They had no idea she was inside.

Detectives are now checking potential leads from the adult dating site, on which the Korps had sought other couples.

AdultMatchMaker claims to be Australia's largest on-line adult dating site, with almost 495,000 people registered in both Australia and New Zealand - with frequently graphic photographs - and caters to a broad range of sexual tastes.

Access to the Korps' posting was blocked yesterday, but Melbourne's Sun Herald said it had included photographs of Maria and listed the couple's preferences and dislikes.

The newspaper quoted the posting as saying: "Happily married couple looking to have fun with another lady or couples ... who would like to relax in a friendly atmosphere and if the chemistry is right, have some real fun."

The revelation of the Korps' sexual mores has come as another heavy blow to their children, shaken by their mother's disappearance.

Daughter Laura De Gois told AAP that while she did not want to comment on her parents' involvement with the internet dating service, the news had been hard to take, especially as she was close to her mother.

"She's like my best friend, so to see this is not good."