Updated Easey St Murders Collingwood * ARREST MADE

[Satan]

Police have arrested a man in Italy over the 1977 murders of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett in their Easey Street home. He fled Australia in 2017 after he became aware he was a suspect.

The man fled to Greece and couldn’t be arrested because local laws meant charges must be laid within seven years of the offence.

Police have waited those 15 years for him to leave Greece so he could be arrested. They will now seek to extradite him to Melbourne to face the charges.

A police spokesperson confirmed a 65-year-old dual citizen of Australia and Greece was arrested at an airport in Rome in the early hours on Friday.


For you russian bots , long unsolved double murder in Melbourne

 

[Kurve]

He's exercised his right to silence other than to say he was innocent and agrees to extradition, which should likely see him back in Australia pretty quick.

“He was certainly surprised that he had been arrested. He told me he came to Italy for professional reasons, work-related reasons. That’s what he told me,” she said. “Only for a few days and then to return to Greece, and he did not expect this arrest, that’s for sure.”
“He said he wants to come back to Australia and explain everything,”

Easey Street murder suspect says he’s innocent, agrees to extradition from Rome

A “distressed” Perry Kouroumblis has agreed to be extradited to Melbourne, telling an Italian court that he intends to fight to clear his name, his court-appointed lawyer said.

www.brisbanetimes.com.au

 

[Anja_Nees]

“He had no idea that there was a different law in Italy.”

 

[takethepowerback]

"About a week after the killings, he was pulled over by police in a routine patrol near Easey Street, and it was recorded in coronial proceedings that he was carrying a knife. He was also named in an inquest into the deaths as the person who found the knife used in the killings but was not called as he could not be located"

 

[Bont the Lord]

Feels like they should have found the school link if he was known to police?

Maybe they knew about that but the murders were so brutal he was just dismissed as never being capable of doing it plus the alibi he seems to have had which was rock solid.

Probably a few lads known to police from that school in the 70s

 

[Longmembrey]

And it would have been one of many traffic stops with knives present

One of many with knives present? Right near the scene? With a knife containing the same blood type as a victim? In the possession of a criminal who lived right near the victims AND was a student at the same school a victim taught at?

Nah, the cops including Iddles have a lot to answer for here

 

[Bont the Lord]

One of many with knives present? Right near the scene? With a knife containing the same blood type as a victim? In the possession of a criminal who lived right near the victims AND was a student at the same school a victim taught at?

Nah, the cops including Iddles have a lot to answer for here

Not sure how the cops work but I don't think Iddles (junior constable at the time) can be charging people for murder. I'd imagine that sort of evidence goes to the detectives.

 

[Visions]

He's exercised his right to silence other than to say he was innocent and agrees to extradition, which should likely see him back in Australia pretty quick.

“He was certainly surprised that he had been arrested. He told me he came to Italy for professional reasons, work-related reasons. That’s what he told me,” she said. “Only for a few days and then to return to Greece, and he did not expect this arrest, that’s for sure.”
“He said he wants to come back to Australia and explain everything,”

http://[URL='https://www.brisbaneti...m_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed[/URL[/COLOR]

]

There is a 3rd brother living in Greece? Wonder if he has always been there or spent a lot of time in Australia?

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Probably a few lads known to police from that school in the 70s

Nicknamed "Pentridge Tech" I believe, unless I've confused it with another school in the area.

 

[takethepowerback]

One of many with knives present? Right near the scene? With a knife containing the same blood type as a victim? In the possession of a criminal who lived right near the victims AND was a student at the same school a victim taught at?

Nah, the cops including Iddles have a lot to answer for here

Agreed, people cut them a lot of slack.

PK is found nearby, with a knife, with human blood on it. Lives very close by, has a connection to one of the victims. At the inquest, it seems the knife PK is found with is thought to be the murder weapon. PK's whereabouts is unknown, but they accept his statement that he found it. There's also an article in '77 at around the time PK was found stating the theory was that the killer had caught the train at Vic Park - in line with PKs story that he found the knife that night by Vic Park station.

People say it's brilliant detective work, and i'm glad that they stuck with it, and justice might be served in the future, but DNA testing the guy who thought to be in possession of the murder weapon at least some point in time* doesn't take a heap of thought..

*there are some conflicting reports on the knife, one article says multiple knives are in evidence, another speaks of another knife, but at least at some points in time (e.g. the inquest) PKs knife was thought to be the knife.

 

[Billyc]

There’s no doubt the cops stuffed up in not properly looking into and challenging the alibi of the guy who was found with the suspected murder weapon. In hindsight that seems inexplicable though we have read that his alibi both for the night of the murders and for finding the knife were supported by multiple witnesses. In the absence of anything else, they had nothing on him and then there was a raft of suspicious characters with known connections to the victims or the house.

The story that the murderer would have thrown away the weapon, rather than kept it, and then a petty crook local youth would pick it up is certainly plausible and if supported by other witnesses I can understand the cops focusing more closely on others early days. But once the case ran cold and many detectives looked at it over many years, I’m surprised nobody thought to take a much closer look at the person who had the murder weapon

 

[Percel]

Love these potshots at the coppers 47 years ago. Arm chair online detctives with little or no knowledge of the variables they were facing, the confirmed evidence available at the time, and the absolutes to arrest, let alone convict.
No doubt there will be mistakes highlighted, but show me a case where there isn’t.
Book em Danno…

 

[Bunk Moreland]

One of many with knives present? Right near the scene? With a knife containing the same blood type as a victim? In the possession of a criminal who lived right near the victims AND was a student at the same school a victim taught at?

Nah, the cops including Iddles have a lot to answer for here

I’m not big on high-profile hero cops but I’m not sure what blame lays at Iddles’ feet.

He was a junior cop who did the traffic stop, searched the car, found the knife and handed it over to the detectives.

It’s a coincidence that he went on to find the fame he did, could’ve been any junior cop from 50 years ago who stopped the car.

 

[Billyc]

Love these potshots at the coppers 47 years ago. Arm chair online detctives with little or no knowledge of the variables they were facing, the confirmed evidence available at the time, and the absolutes to arrest, let alone convict.
No doubt there will be mistakes highlighted, but show me a case where there isn’t.
Book em Danno…

When a very high profile murder is unsolved for 5 decades there is always going to be many mistakes along the way. There are no doubt reasons for mistakes, such as taking alibi witnesses’ words at face value, but mistakes all the same. If after 50 years it turns out the guy who was found with the murder weapon did it, that’s hardly a shock outcome.

The flip side is that the police did a very good job at collecting and preserving DNA that was incapable of testing at the time of the murders in 1977.

 

[CD Xbow]

Love these potshots at the coppers 47 years ago. Arm chair online detctives with little or no knowledge of the variables they were facing, the confirmed evidence available at the time, and the absolutes to arrest, let alone convict.
No doubt there will be mistakes highlighted, but show me a case where there isn’t.
Book em Danno…

Yes, peering at past events through the retrospectoscope makes the right course of action so clear, every time.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Love these potshots at the coppers 47 years ago. Arm chair online detctives with little or no knowledge of the variables they were facing, the confirmed evidence available at the time, and the absolutes to arrest, let alone convict.
No doubt there will be mistakes highlighted, but show me a case where there isn’t.
Book em Danno…

So people are just highlighting possible mistakes in this case..speculating. What's the big deal? How is that a potshot?

 

[Percel]

So people are just highlighting possible mistakes in this case..speculating. What's the big deal? How is that a potshot?

The difference between a potential mistake and a potshot is great. I have no issues with potential mistakes, I’ve made plenty over the journey. I get it and respect that.

Blatant comments inferring it’s a massive **** up are my issue

 

[RICHOLEGEND12]

The difference between a potential mistake and a potshot is great. I have no issues with potential mistakes, I’ve made plenty over the journey. I get it and respect that.

Blatant comments inferring it’s a massive **** up are my issue

I think even the cops would agree that it is a bit of a **** up to honest.

 

[DeliveryProblems]

I think even the cops would agree that it is a bit of a **** up to honest.

Yes many cops have this opinion including Iddles and Murphy

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Yes, peering at past events through the retrospectoscope makes the right course of action so clear, every time.

There's some gaps to be filled, sure, but take this passage from another website, citing
Tom Prior's book "They Trusted Men".

The inquest accepted a similar statement from an absent youth nicknamed "Perry" said by police to be 'in smoke', on the run, to escape burglary charges. 'Perry' had been questioned on other matters some days after the murders, police said. A bloodstained knife with a long blade had been found in a scabbard in the boot of his car, when it was searched by police investigating another matter.

There were traces of A positive blood on the knife, which had been wiped in an attempt to clean it, before being replaced in the scabbard. Suzanne Armstrong's blood was A positive, but this was a blood group shared by a large proportion of the population. There was no trace of Susan Bartlett's O positive blood, also a common blood group, on the knife.

The knife was 26.67cm (10 and 1/2 inches) long and had a handle of tightly bound brown strip plastic with red strips at each end. The brand name 'Mundial' was stamped on the blade. There was a small bend at the tip of the blade which could have been caused by it hitting a solid object such as bone, police said. The knife was almost new and forensic tests showed that it had never been sharpened. There were no serrations or file marks on it whatsoever. It was in a new brown leather sheath, with yellow stitching, which could have been worn on a belt or strapped to a leg.

'Perry', who was questioned exhaustively by police, told them he found the knife near the platform of Victoria Park railway station, on the Hoddle Street side, which would be used by travellers going away from the city, between 10:20pm and 11pm on January 10. This was about 90 minutes after the murdered women were last seen alive and, if the knife was the murder weapon, police theories about the murders happening on January 11 obviously were wrong.

'Perry' had unimpeachable corroboration for the finding of the knife and an unbreakable alibi for the possible time of the murders. At the time, 'Perry' and his companions, who repeated his account of his movements, were either intent on committing, or committing, some of the burglaries with which he was later charged. He had no suspicion of the importance of the bloodstained knife, and would have been extremely unlikely to have thrown it in the boot of his car if he had, police said. He was frightened, 'shocked out of his wits' in fact, when he realised the reason for the intensity of police questioning.

Sounds like either a) he was always considered a very strong suspect; or b) there was some remarkable (unclear) reason for him to be removed from the list of suspects. Either way, I'm sure where Karoumblis factored into the investigation over the decades that followed will come out in the wash.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Includes a photo of accused at around that time

Easey Street’s sliding doors moment, and the scoop I never thought I’d write

Detectives work on facts but every now and again, you need a bit of luck to get the break.

www.theage.com.au

Easey Street’s sliding doors moment, and the scoop I never thought I’d write​

By John Silvester​

September 26, 2024 — 7.45pm



Listen to this article
6 min

John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld in Naked City, an exclusive newsletter for subscribers sent every Thursday. You’re reading an excerpt – sign up to get the whole newsletter in your inbox.
It was the scoop I thought I would never write. Police believe they have found the alleged Easey Street killer, who in January 1977 allegedly murdered two women in their Collingwood home.
Finally, there was an alleged DNA match but the suspect, Perry Kouroumblis, had already left for Greece, having earlier promised to provide a sample. And the trouble was the local law in Greece meant he couldn’t be extradited.

Accused Easey Street killer Perry Kouroumblis, 17, around the time of the Easey Street killings.

CREDIT:
In what must have been the last roll of the dice, in 2017 police had decided to DNA test all people in the file, including a kid who said he had found a knife believed to be the murder weapon − Kouroumblis.

The kid, now a man, was approached to provide a DNA sample − more to get him off the books than confirm him as a suspect. He said yes but shortly after booked his ticket to Athens − one way.
In Greece, you have to charge someone with murder within 20 years of the offence, and that deadline had well and truly passed. While no such limitation applies here to murder, the rules of extradition are clear − the accused would have to be able to be found guilty in the host country as well as the country where the offence was committed.

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Likewise, if Saudi Arabian authorities wanted a woman in Australia to have her hands cut off for stealing, they would be told to clear off. Or if the evidence for an extradition was a confession delivered due to torture, the case would collapse.
I was tipped off about six years ago that they had enough evidence to arrest Kouroumblis but the then head of homicide, Detective Inspector Tim Day, told me I would blow their case if we published. To agree to keep the secret was not a particularly noble decision; it was the only decision. How could I ask any murder victim’s family to trust me with their story again if I had sabotaged a homicide investigation?


As the years went on I came to believe Kouroumblis would never leave Greece and would never be charged. I suggested to the police they go to inquest, and name him, so the public would know they had made a breakthrough. They said no. I said I would go to Greece and front him. They said no.
They were right and I was wrong. They played the long game and made the arrest when he went to Rome.

Perry Kouroumblis says he wants to return to Australia to clear his name.
(In moments of frustration I considered hiring mercenaries to abduct him, even though he was just a suspect, and I’m not sure the accountants at this masthead would have been enthusiastic about such a strategy of thugs, hoods and a private plane.)
An extradition can be lengthy, expensive and messy because you eventually have to prove to courts in two countries the strength of the case.

UK police had an extradition squad that travelled the world bringing crooks back to Britain. After one lengthy process in Melbourne one of the cops had to buy new suits, as his waistline had extended alarmingly on a diet of Police Club beer, dims sims and Lygon Street pizzas.

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But this long drawn-out process will now be shortened as the suspect has agreed to return to Australia. He has protested his innocence and says he wants to clear his name. As it happens, he said he was only going to be in Italy for days and so the window for police was short.
Which takes us back to 1977, when the Kouroumblis family sold their Collingwood home in July – the same month as the Easey Street inquest, where Perry Kouroumblis was named as the person who found the knife. It is believed the family then returned to Greece for several years, for unknown reasons.
One thing is for certain, cold case detectives have not just sat on their backsides for seven years, hoping their suspect would one day wander out of Greece so he could be grabbed. Behind the scenes, diplomatic, legal and investigative wheels have been grinding on. Evidence would have been checked, corroborated and checked again.

An alleged DNA match to exhibits from the crime scene held for 47 years is a start, but only that. In January 1977, the bodies of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were found in their Easey Street home.

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Bartlett was a teacher at Collingwood High and Kouroumblis a local student. What we don’t know is if their paths crossed, as the suspect had been in and out of youth detention when he was a teenager.
The father of Armstrong’s infant son was Greek, and she had connections into the local community in inner Melbourne. Kouroumblis was also a local burglar who broke into houses.
Ron Iddles, who would become a long-time homicide detective, was then a junior constable. Days after the murders he was on a divisional van shift and pulled over Kouroumblis near Easey Street and found a bloodied knife in the boot. The teenager said he had found the knife on January 10 − the night of the murders − on railway tracks.

Blood samples on the knife matched Armstrong’s type. The discovery of the knife was reported in newspapers by the 17th. So why wasn’t he treated as a suspect at the time? Police believed at least one of the women knew the killer and allowed him into the house.

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As they had a list of about eight suspects who had been to the house, the nature of the frenzied attack and the attempts to clean the crime scene made some local kid the longest of long shots. Resources were concentrated on the known suspects.
Some of them had to live with the whispers they were the killers until DNA cleared them. To work on Kouroumblis would have been seen as a distraction. There was no CCTV, mobile phone records or DNA tests back then. Such a crime today would probably be solved in 24 hours.
In a case with so many twists and turns there is one sliding doors moment.

If the traffic lights had been red in Hoddle Street the divisional van and the suspect’s car would not have crossed. If Iddles had pulled up another car a minute earlier, Kouroumblis would have cruised past unnoticed to his home less than 300 metres from Easey Street. Then there would have been no search and Kouroumblis would not be on the file and never asked for DNA.
Detectives work on facts but every now and again, you need a bit of luck to get the break.

 

[SJ]

Surprised they didn’t put two and two together back then.

 

[Kurve]

Surprised they didn’t put two and two together back then.

In a gang with house breakers, wearing a Connie/Conny cardigan and a bit of a mullet, could he have been a Sharpie?




Edit: Correct spelling

 

[Sqotty from office works]

In a gang with house breakers, wearing a Connie cardigan and a bit of a mullet, could he have been a Sharpie?


View attachment 2122956

Dressed like one.
But the hair doesn't look it.
Every 2nd person including me had a connie

 

[Kurve]

Dressed like one.
But the hair doesn't look it.
Every 2nd person including me had a connie

Did you have rats tails? Burgle houses and have friends who would alibi you?

 

[GreyCrow]

Designed by a Mr Conti, a Greek clothier in the Thornbury neighbourhood to the north of the city, Connies were picked up on by Sharpies for their tight fit.


I had to look up what a Connie was - seems to be the Kappa of Melbourne