Search for missing Melbourne mum focused on rural land

Police searching for missing Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski have focused their efforts on rural areas northwest of the city, and have asked residents to check for any suspicious changes on their land.

Ms Ristevski, 47, has not been seen since June 29, when she left her Avondale Heights home after an argument with her husband.

Victorian police today appealed for people living northwest of Melbourne to check their properties for "any changes or any suspicious activity" since her disappearance.

The appeal followed media reports yesterday that police were searching the Murray River at Barmah.

"Police have searched a number of locations across Victoria however their focus remains in the rural area to the northwest of Melbourne," a police spokeswoman said in a statement today.

The Maribyrnong River has been searched on at least two occasions since Ms Ristevski's disappearance eight weeks ago.

Earlier this week, the husband and brother-in-law of the popular dress shop owner spoke out about her disappearance.

Borce Ristevski told the Herald Sun he argued with his wife over a "sum of hundreds of dollars" but insisted that money was not behind her mysterious disappearance.

READ MORE: Karen Ristevski's husband says row not behind disappearance

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Mr Ristevski also dismissed claims by his estranged son Anthony Rickard - a confessed ice user - that he overheard his mother talking about leaving his father when his sister Sarah turned 21.