The hairdresser girlfriend of a brave doctor who was murdered during a home invasion mysteriously disappeared from their two-unit apartment a year ago.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal that Dr. Ash Gordon’s partner Dakota Nagel, 25, made headlines last year after he disappeared from the couple’s home in Doncaster, Melbourne’s northeast, on January 8 after a nightclubbing with friends.
Mysteriously, an image of her deceased dog was posted to her Koda Hair Extensions Instagram page after two days of absence.
Family members immediately reported the “strange” message to investigators on Jan. 10, noting that Ms. Nagel has only used the page to promote her business and does not upload personal photos.
After a week-long search, police found her safe on January 15. The nature of her disappearance, which was not related to Dr. Gordon’s murder, was never explained.
Dr. Ash Gordon’s girlfriend Dakota Nagel (pictured) disappeared from their Doncaster home for a week early last year
Dr. Ash Gordon is pictured with his partner, Dakota Nagel, in happier times
Her disappearance was extremely strange, her friends and family said, because she would not have abandoned her dogs.
“Our family is worried and her pug babies are desperate. She wouldn’t have left them for so long,” her aunt Anne-Maree Key said at the time.
‘Her fur children are her life and mean as much to her as ours do. She’s also about to become an aunt and is so excited she couldn’t possibly miss it.”
The couple’s Sargent St home is back in the spotlight 12 months later after it was broken into by a gang of intruders in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Dr. Gordon, 33, bravely chased the thugs out of the house before he was fatally stabbed during a confrontation about 500 meters away on Elidon Street.
Mysteriously, an image of her deceased dog was posted to her Koda Hair Extensions Instagram page after two days of absence
Dr. Gordon (far right) is pictured next to his friends, including his housemate Tristen Standing (far left)
Frightened neighbors called the police before Dr.’s body was discovered. Gordon was discovered nearby. His attackers fled and are still on the run. No arrests have been made.
In a sad twist of fate, Dr Gordon’s sister Natalie told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday that he and his housemate Tristen Standing wanted to leave the area.
Natalie said Mrs Nagel was ‘heartbroken’ by his death.
A team of detectives searched a property near Dr Gordon’s two-storey unit on Tuesday morning as an officer carried evidence bags and loaded them into a vehicle.
The building was the site of a raucous party on Friday evening, just hours before Dr.’s death. Gordon, with CCTV footage from a nearby home showing a group of attendees walking through the streets in the early morning hours.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said officers attended a property “as part of an ongoing operation”.
“There is no immediate risk to public safety and further information will be provided as soon as operationally appropriate,” they said.
Sources with insider knowledge of the investigation have told Daily Mail Australia police were called to the party twice that evening – once around 10pm and then again at 2am.
During the initial call, neighbors reported hearing a group of boys messing around as if they were playing a game of football.
The party – which is believed to have no adults present – continued about four hours later when the group started blasting music, the source said.
The noise stopped and the gathering seemed to quiet down about 15 minutes after police arrived.
Daily Mail Australia can also reveal that neighbors spotted two men in hoodies hanging out in the backyard of a nearby property this weekend.
As part of the investigation, a photo of the incident was handed over to the police.
Dr. Gordon, a much-loved GP at the nearby Box Hill medical clinic, was sleeping in his bed when intruders broke into the house at around 5am.
Ms Nagel allegedly told police that the group had stolen shoes and laptops.
Mr Standing said Dr Gordon was a ‘brave man’ who ‘didn’t think twice’ about chasing the intruders out of the house.
“He was just a protector,” Standing told reporters Monday.
“He took care of his people. He didn’t think about himself.’
Tributes have since been paid online to Dr Gordon, who was very popular among his patients and the wider community for the patience, care and support he showed his clients.
The police searched the house on Tuesday morning (photo)
A detective carries two cardboard evidence bags out of the house
In addition to his GP work, he also runs Richmond-based cosmetic clinic Redefine Aesthetics, which specializes in skin health, wellbeing and anti-ageing.
Devastated family members gathered at Dr.’s home on Monday. Gordon as they packed up his belongings to take them back home to Morwell, Gippsland.
His sister Natalie Gordon described her brother as a “cheeky, light-hearted, funny person” who “gave everything to everyone around him” as she begged his attackers to turn themselves in.
“We want justice,” she said.
‘It is an absolute shame for humanity to do something so wonderful to someone.
“The world is a worse place now because he was taken not just from us, but from the wider community.”
Witnesses or anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.