A former Telstra expert says the mobile phone records of missing Victorian woman Krystal Fraser indicate "movement" in the hours after her disappearance, but did not necessarily mean she was alive at the time.
Tim Miller worked as a law enforcement liaison office at Telstra and has provided phone records to Victoria Police as part of their investigation into Krystal Fraser's disappearance on the night of June 20, 2009.
Coroner Katherine Lorenz is investigating whether Ms Fraser, a 23-year-old from Pyramid Hill, met foul play, was killed, died by suicide or relocated elsewhere.
Some 23 witnesses have been called over the past week-and-a-half during the coronial inquest into her disappearance.
The inquest heard Mr Fraser's mobile was connected to the phone tower in the town of Patho at 1:45am and 1:46am on June 21, before ending at 2:49am at the Leitchville phone tower.
"It indicates movement," Mr Miller told the Coroners Court of Victoria.
He said Ms Fraser's mobile phone records indicated that her last known outgoing phone activity, such as a person making an outgoing phone call or sending a text message as opposed to going to voicemail, was at 2:49am.
Mr Miller was asked by Counsel assisting the Coroner Fiona Batten if there had been any further outgoing activity from the phone, including calls and messages, after that time.
"Excluding the MMS [multimedia messages], there is no activity on this phone," Mr Miller replied.
Mr Miller was referring to two multimedia messages recorded on Ms Fraser's outgoing phone activity just after 2pm on June 24, more than 72 hours after she went missing.
The court heard that outgoing phone activity recorded three days after her disappearance could determine proof of life to the coroner.
But Mr Miller told the inquest that, because the record did not capture Ms Fraser's phone's serial number, call duration and phone tower, it was more likely the multimedia message was not forwarded on by Telstra at the time it was sent, and the telco was potentially trying to re-send it, or the record was related to billing activity.
"This record doesn't show the time the multimedia message was sent to Telstra, does it?" Ms Batten asked Mr Miller.
"Correct," Mr Miller said.
"If it was sent to Telstra at 2:01pm, we would have an IME [International Mobile Equipment Identity] number and a cell tower?" Ms Batten asked.
"And there would also be a reciprocal record of [the other phone] receiving it," Mr Miller said.
Ms Batten told the inquest this was critical because the police theory is "that Ms Fraser was no longer alive at this point".
Call received from public phone
Ms Batten told the inquest a 182-second call was made to Ms Fraser from the Leitchville public phone at 7:45pm on June 16.
Mr Miller told the court Ms Fraser's corresponding phone records suggested there was no call duration, but said the records also showed that Ms Fraser answered the call and was the one to end it.
The inquest has previously heard that Ms Fraser, who had an intellectual disability and was heavily pregnant, wrote in her diary that she received a call from "her mate PJ [Peter Jenkinson]" on that night and would hopefully see him at the weekend.
Mr Jenkinson, from the town of Gunbower, is a prime suspect for police, with the court having previously heard that Ms Fraser was having an affair with him in the months leading up to her disappearance.
Mr Jenkinson was on Monday excused from giving evidence before Coroner Lorenz on the basis he could incriminate himself by doing so.
Messages sent minutes apart
Mr Jenkinson's lawyer, Emma Strugnell, asked Mr Miller how he could be sure that two multimedia records represented two separate multimedia messages.
Mr Miller said it was because they were sent two minutes apart.
He said successfully sending those messages would require the person receiving the multimedia message to have their phone turned on and a SIM card in.
He told the inquest another possibility is that Ms Fraser's phone tried to send two multimedia messages beforehand, but admitted there were no other corresponding attempts earlier in her records to prove so.
The court also heard that the last time Ms Fraser's phone records showed human activity was at 8.07pm on June 20 when she made a call to recharge her phone, but Mr Miller told the inquest that was not definitive.
"It changed towers — it's forced Telstra to do something."
"But you said earlier that doesn't require human input?" Ms Strugnell asked.
"No," Mr Miller said.
Coroner Lorenz told the court she expected to hand down her findings towards the end of August.
