HERMAN Rockefeller’s disappearance was a rollercoaster of emotion for the Australian public.

Yet it ended in disaster like a horror movie.

But for the Victorian public, that rollercoaster has turned into a macabre spectacle.

It was a search for a fallen millionaire. First he was spotted alive creating hope for the family and beyond.

Then he was pronounced dead within days.

It’s been nearly eight years since a story like this has gripped Melbourne, and it eerily played out in the same coveted area of Malvern and surrounds.

In April 2002, wealthy Victorian socialite, Margaret Wales-King, and her husband, Paul King, went to a family dinner at her son’s home — close to the Rockefeller family home — and then vanished.

It’s a gripping story that had the media chasing every angle for the past six weeks.

It has created headlines overseas even – but Victoria is a state that loves its gossip.

The Rockefeller story fed them even more. This time it was bad news at the end of it all.