Neighbours describe 'screams' before Australian chef murdered, dismembered and cooked his wife

Witnesses said a 'dog food' like smell came from the apartment

Neighbours have described hearing screams before a wife was murdered, dismembered and cooked by her husband.

An inquest into the 2014 murder-suicide has heard the smell coming from the apartment of chef-turned-sex worker Marcus Volke, 27, was so bad that building managers started using air freshener in the hallways.

Volke murdered his wife Mayang Prasetyo after an argument and blamed the smell on cooking, Brisbane Coroners Court heard.

Police were alerted after Volke called an electrician to deal with a power outage caused by cooking his wife's remains.

Ms Prasetyo, a trans sex worker from Indonesia, married Volke in 2013. The couple had an unorthodox relationship which Volke kept secret from his family, the Courier Mail reported, travelling the world and working as escorts on cruise ships and in brothels.

Marcus Volke and Mayang Prasetyo (Channel 7)

The next year, on 2 October, Volke had an argument with her on the phone when he was with a client, then left abruptly.

That evening, neighbours of the couple in the apartment complex in Teneriffe, Brisbane, described hearing the sounds of an argument coming from their flat.

“It lasted about 30 to 40 minutes and started to escalate to a point where the person later identified to be Ms Prasetyo was noted to be screaming,” Emily Cooper, counsel assisting the coroner, told the court.

“The male person, later identified to be Mr Volke, was seen to be sitting on the couch inside the unit just staring straight ahead, not reacting at all to the screaming.”

After another round of arguing in the early hours of 3 October, police believe Ms Prasetyo was murdered. Detectives do not think it was premeditated.

Later the day, a smell was noticed by the building’s manager, who used air freshener in the hallway, the Mail reported. The manager told the court the smell was like “dog food”.

The court was told Volke left the apartment and bought gloves, bleach, wipes, rubbish bags, a laundry tub and a scrubbing brush. He was suffering a wound to his hand but gave a taxi driver and hospital staff different causes for the injury.

Volke also called an electrician, telling him a stock pot had boiled over and cut out power to his electric stove. But on arrival the tradesman noticed blood on the floor, in addition to the smell, and raised the alarm.

Police visited soon after, discovering Ms Prasetyo’s feet in a kitchen pot and her dismembered remains in a rubbish bag in the washing machine. Volke fled the scene when police arrived, cutting his throat and hiding in a bin outside the back of the apartment block, where he was later found dead.

Ms Cooper said the officers’ actions were legally “authorised, justified and supported” and found no evidence of misconduct. The hearing will conclude on Friday.