Two men and a woman plotted and then carried out a horrific murder on a bushy Queensland property, with the victim put through an industrial woodchipper, police say.
Butcher Bruce Saunders, 54, suffered a gruesome death, initially believed to be an accident, while clearing a friend's rural property at Goomboorian, near Gympie in November last year.
Detectives won't say if Mr Saunders was still alive when he was put into the machine.
"I can't comment on that but the injuries he sustained were horrific as you could imagine being consumed by a woodchipper," Det Insp Gary Pettiford said.
Two men - Greg Roser, 58, of Deception Bay, and Peter Koenig, 61, of Gympie - briefly faced the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Saunders' former partner, 57-year-old Sharon Graham, also appeared in the same court later in the day after being arrested at Coolangatta.
Police charged all three with murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice after arresting the trio in separate operations on Tuesday morning.
"They are all associates and we will be alleging that it wasn't an accident and that they did conspire together to commit this offence," Det Insp Pettiford told reporters outside the Maroochydore police station.
He would not discuss the motive for the crime.
Police were initially told Saunders accidentally fell into the chipper, but in the days that followed received information suggesting foul play, and by February homicide detectives were on the case.
Soon after the grisly death, which affected emergency service members at the time, Graham posted a tribute message beneath Saunders' online funeral notice.
"He treated me like gold," she wrote.
"His love to me was bigger than anything in this world ... I'm so lost without you Bruce. No words can say what I'm feeling. Will always have you in my thoughts and heart. Rest in peace Bruce. Xx"
Graham has reportedly been romantically involved with Roser more recently.
All three accused have been remanded in custody to reappear in court on August 3, with the men's lawyers telling the court they would be fighting the charges.
