She would have been starting life as a single mother of two
with a business of her own, content that the hard yards were behind her.
Just as Novy Chardon was moving on with her life, however, it was abruptly cut short.
The 34-year-old disappeared from her Upper Coomera home 12 months ago.
There has been no sign of her since and police believe she was murdered.
Thursday marks the anniversary of her disappearance.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, February 6, 2012, Ms Chardon visited her Gold Coast solicitor with a friend to discuss her divorce.
The decision to divorce was a mutual one, Ms Chardon’s husband of 11 years John Chardon says.
The pair met while Ms Chardon was working in guest relations at the Sheraton Hotel in Indonesia’s East Java province in 2001.
Thirty-one years her senior, Mr Chardon was in Indonesia on a business trip.
The Gold Coast businessman, who police say had been married four times previously, reportedly swept the 23-year-old Indonesian-born beauty off her feet. They were engaged within a month of meeting and married the following year.
But the relationship started to sour several years ago.
Her final movements
After meeting with her divorce lawyer, Ms Chardon dropped her friend home and went to collect her young son and daughter, aged seven and nine, from school.
Later that evening, Ms Chardon left her Bridie Drive home with her daughter and returned to her friend’s house. There, Ms Chardon began preparing her affidavit for the upcoming divorce proceedings.
At 8.50pm that evening, Ms Chardon dropped her daughter back home. She and her friend then drove to the BP station near Days Road, Upper Coomera, before stopping by the neighbouring McDonald’s drive-through.
CCTV cameras captured the last images of Ms Chardon, refuelling her car and ordering food, wearing red shorts and a grey shirt.
The two women then drove to a Thai restaurant at Runaway Bay, where the husband of Ms Chardon’s friend worked. The pair sat in the four-wheel-drive for some time, while Ms Chardon sent a text message to another friend about arrangements for a new website for her home-based beauty business.
She arrived home between 10.30pm and 11pm, according to her husband.
Mr Chardon says he woke about 7am on Thursday morning to find his wife missing.
At 8.45am, he booked flights for his two children to join him on a pre-planned business trip to Indonesia. ‘‘I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t leave them home alone,’’ he told Fairfax Media.
At 9.15 he made a trip to a Woolworths supermarket.
The next day, he boarded a plane for Indonesia with his daughter and son.
It was a friend of Ms Chardon’s from Sydney who reported the 34-year-old mother missing on Saturday, February 8.
Foul play
On Monday, February 11, Ms Chardon’s Volvo SUV was found abandoned near the Nerang train station on Bowden Court. The magnetic strips advertising her beauty business had been removed and her iPad was missing along with other personal belongings.
Mr Chardon stayed in Jakarta with his children, while police seized his car from Brisbane Airport and forensics police examined the family’s home.
Police spent nearly a week combing the house and the car, while SES volunteers searched nearby bushland.
Husband’s message
Speaking from Jakarta on February 11, Mr Chardon said he had only one message for his missing wife.
‘‘Tell her to get your stupid bloody arse home mate,’’ he told Ten News.
‘‘Haha, no just tell her she’s gotta come home.’’
He showed little concern that his home had become a crime scene.
‘‘That’s just normal ... all I’m worried about is the f---ing mess they’re going to make,’’ he said.
‘‘She’s done this sort of thing before, just not for such a long period.’’
He was more concerned when he spoke to Fairfax Media the following day.
‘‘I don’t want anything to happen to her,’’ Mr Chardon said. ‘‘I loved her very much. I still love her actually. Even though she can be difficult at times, I still love her.
‘‘We are very, very concerned for her - myself and the kids. We’re really pretty stressed out.’’
He went on to say: ‘‘My kids know the full story, because I don’t hide things from them right.’’
Police hunt
As their investigation gained momentum, police raided the head office of Mr Chardon’s Loganholme-based company Candan Industries, which exports the lubricant Inox worldwide. Computers and documents were seized, but police said it was all part of routine procedure.
Mr Chardon’s two adult daughters from a previous relationship, Angela and Candice, who are listed as directors of his company, were also questioned.
Members of the public reported seeing Ms Chardon’s Volvo travelling along Kopps Road, Oxenford, behind the Movie World theme park, on the night she vanished.
Police and SES volunteers scoured bushland surrounding the isolated road, but investigators now believe the vehicle that was seen was not Ms Chardon's.
Her Volvo was parked near the Nerang train station shortly before 2am on February 7, but it was moved the following night about 9pm.
Residents say the Volvo was driven away and then returned six minutes later and parked on the opposite side of the road.
Mr Chardon returned from Indonesia with his children more than two weeks after his wife disappeared.
The following week he was interviewed by detectives. Again, police said it was just routine procedure.
The next month, Mr Chardon was charged over unrelated matters. He is due to face trial in July this year.
Police say the historical charges are in no way linked to his wife’s disappearance.
Ms Chardon’s friends are planning to gather at the Runaway Bay Thai restaurant where they last saw her to raise a glass in her honour and pray for her return on Thursday.
Search continues
Gold Coast Detective Superintendent David Hutchinson said a team of homicide detectives was working solidly on the case.
‘‘We are of the view that more than one person was involved in the death of Novy and the disposal of her body,’’ he said.
‘‘She was excited in the days preceding her death. She expressed this excitement to her friends and was making arrangements to have a website built for her business as soon as the night before she disappeared.’’
Superintendent Hutchinson urged anyone with information to come forward.
‘‘If not for her sake, but for her children, so that they might have some closure,’’ he said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Originally Posted by marakisses
