On April 18 2019, Borce Ristevski was sentenced to nine years in prison for the death of Karen Ristevski.

Since Karen Ristevski’s body was found in Mount Macedon bushland on Monday afternoon, a number of locals have come forward to aid police with their investigations.

The tale of a sinister ‘shovel man‘, spotted in the area late last year, was doing the rounds at dinner parties for months before the driver behind it realised its potential significance and reported it.

Likewise, another local man, Ian Flannery, has told the Daily Mail he noticed “an awful smell” weeks ago, just 50m from where the 47-year-old’s remains were hidden under a large log.

Flannery, 61, who has lived in the area for eight years, said he would cycle past the “generally deserted” spot, sometimes up to four times a week.

"I could count on two hands the amount of people I have seen down there since I moved here," he told Daily Mail journalist Belinda Cleary.

"Sometimes I come across someone in a 4WD or horse riders. But I don't recall anyone in a van or looking suspicious."

Ristevski was last seen alive leaving her Avondale Heights home on June 29, 2016.

She had allegedly been fighting with her husband, Borce, now the "number one suspect" in her death.

The mother of one's body was "badly decomposed" by the time it was discovered by a bushwalker around 12.30pm on Monday afternoon.

"A few weeks ago I rode past there and could smell something bad," Flannery told the Daily Mail.

"Sometimes you will come across a rotting kangaroo or something – and that's what it smelt like.

"I wish I had got off my bike and had a look around, but then I don't know how I would have reacted if I had found her."

He said the site now has an "eerie" feeling, which has left him looking over his shoulder on more recent rides.

Police have yet to arrest anyone for Ristevski's murder.