A Victorian woman who bashed and stuffed a sock down the throat of an 85-year-old lady, dumped her body in the river, and embarked on a wild shopping spree will not go down for murder.

The body of Lolene Whitehand was found floating in the Maribyrnong River in Flemington by a fisherman on 14 July 2024.

On Thursday, her remorseless killer Milena Bogojevska, 51, faced a pre-sentence hearing in the Supreme Court of Victoria after she was allowed to plead guilty to a charge of manslaughter rather than murder.

No explanation was given as to why the Director of Victoria's Office of Public Prosecutions, Brendan Kissane KC, did not proceed with a murder trial, but the court heard it was likely to do with unanswered questions about the elderly woman's precise cause of death.

Ms Whitehand's senseless death had shocked and outraged angry Victorians already fed up with the state's out-of-control crime wave.

The court heard the beloved mum and neighbour had been brutally beaten before she was smothered and dumped in the Maribyrnong River wrapped in plastic.

A blood-soaked tea towel had been rammed into her mouth.

The horror unfolded on 12 July when Ms Whitehand was last seen alive entering Bogojevska's Glamis Street home, two doors down from her own, at about 4pm that day.

Her disappearance immediately concerned neighbours, who had come to adore the Glamis Street resident of 40 years.

Ms Whitehand's body was discovered wrapped in blue plastic sheets, her head covered by a blue bag with the name 'Anton' - Bogojevska's 15-year-old son's name - scrawled in black marker.

An autopsy later revealed her cause of death as upper airway obstruction, with a blood-soaked tea towel jammed into her mouth and signs of blunt force trauma to her face.

The court heard Bogojevska wasted no time cashing in after dumping her victim's body in the river.

Bogojevska had been receiving a disability support pension of $778 a fortnight after supposedly hurting her back while working as a cleaner.

CCTV later obtained by police suggested Bogojevska's back was in good enough shape to drag her victim's body out of a car boot and roll it into the river.

According to the prosecution's summary read in court, Bogojevska burgled Ms Whitehand's home shortly after, stealing cash, jewellery, personal documents, and her debit card.

She then embarked on a brazen spending spree using the dead woman's money.

The court heard Bogojevska stole nearly $1,000 in cash from Ms Whitehand, which she had withdrawn earlier.

She blew hundreds at Kmart on a microwave and multiple gift cards in under 10 minutes, purchased lottery tickets, and went on an online shopping rampage - splashing $3,897 on items including two iPads from Amazon, Adidas men's shoes, Nike women's shoes, Brooks running shoes, and more across Amazon, Temu, and eBay.

The court heard Bogojevska used the stolen card even as police searched for the missing pensioner.

'I got no money ... Give me money and I'll shop,' Bogojevska later told detectives as they were uncovering the stolen goods hidden in her home.

Her son Anton, then aged 15 and on school holidays, had been blissfully unaware of what his mother was up to.

The court heard he had been in his bedroom, glued to computer games with headphones on that blocked out the world.

He couldn't hear the doorbell and his mother had to routinely thump on his door to get his attention.

When police arrested Anton in connection with the case, he was interviewed and completely cleared.

He had no knowledge or involvement.

The court heard Anton's computer records confirmed he was gaming at the time Ms Whitehand entered the property.

He later went to a friend's birthday party and the gym, completely oblivious to the nightmare unfolding at home.

Bogojevska was arrested on 16 July and initially told a web of lies to police.

She claimed she hadn't seen Ms Whitehand for a week, denied entering her home, denied using her card, and even faked a limp when brought into the station - despite striding normally in CCTV footage captured at the time of the crime.

'No, I can guarantee you with my own life. I can guarantee you with my own son (I'm telling the truth),' she told police.

'I don't know anything about it. I'm hearing now from you. I never heard of it.'

When asked about the bag found on Ms Whitehand's head bearing her son's name, Bogojevska continued to play dumb.

'I threw this out a long time ago, ages ago,' she insisted.

'No, this has been gone more than seven, eight months ... I swear to God, this bag with a lot of other items, that was thrown in the charity bin.'

Forensic evidence aired in court painted a damning picture: DNA linking Bogojevska and Ms Whitehand was found on gloves in a stolen floral bag, the tea towel found stuffed in her victim's mouth, blood in Bogojevska's bedroom, and in the boot of her grey Holden Captiva - the car used to transport the body.

A series of heart-wrenching victim impact statements from Ms Whitehand's devastated family and neighbours were read to the court.

In another tragedy, the court heard Ms Whitehand's son, a retired paramedic, died just two days before Thursday's hearing.

He expressed profound sadness over the violent manner of his mother’s death, ongoing nightmares, guilt over lying to his aunt about the cause of death, and difficulty being near rivers.

'I have trouble sleeping as I keep picturing my mother being found in the river. I have a fair idea, from being a paramedic, what my mother’s body would have looked like,' he said from beyond the grave.

Ms Whitehand's neighbour Kirraly Schumann told the court her family had treated Ms Whitehand like one of their own.

'She would have given us her last dollar she had,' she told the court through tears.

'She was like a grandmother to my two boys and also the other neighbours’ children ... Lolen's house is no longer standing, but we think of her every day, she’s in our hearts and we’ll never, never forget her.'

Ms Schumann said outside court that Bogojevska should still face a murder charge.

'It shouldn’t be manslaughter… it wasn’t an accident,' she said.

Ms Whitehand was remembered as a fiercely independent woman who continued to drive her own car and visited her elderly sister in an aged care home everyday. 

But Bogojevska's barrister Amy Brennan told Justice Jacinta Forbes her client's crime did not fall into the worst category of manslaughter and asked she be imposed the minimum term of imprisonment necessary. 

She provided the court with a bleeding heart tale of hardship dating back to childhood when she immigrated to Australia from Macedonia. 

Ms Brennan claimed the prosecution could never have proved beyond reasonable doubt her client had murdered Ms Whitehand. 

She further claimed her client's lack of remorse ought not be used against her. 

'A lack of remorse is relevant, but is not an aggravating feature,' she insisted. 

Crown prosecutor Erin Ramsay refuted submissions the killer ought be dealt with leniently. 

'It is submitted that the objective gravity of this offending really is quite high,' she said. 

'It comfortably falls above the mid-range or towards the higher end.'

While the motive for Bogojevska's actions remain unclear, the prosecution suggested it was motivated by opportunistic greed. 

'There does appear to be a dispute as to whether in fact the motive was to burgle the house or not. There isn't any difference to the sentence,' Ms Ramsay said.  

'Whether there's no motive or some motive, but it's not determined it wouldn't affect either way the objective gravity of this offending.' 

Bogojevska will be sentenced at a date to be fixed.