Kurve
Moderator
- Dec 27, 2016
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- AFL Club
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- #1
This unsolved cold case has been getting quite a lot of press recently.
On an open beach, in broad daylight, 20-year-old Italian tourist Victoria Cafasso lay dying. Victoria was visiting from Italy and only been there a few days.
Fifty people visited Beaumaris Beach on the idyllic Tasmanian coastline that day in 1995 — but no-one saw or heard a thing.
In a particularly vicious attack, she had been bludgeoned with a blunt object and stabbed 17 times. Bizarrely, of her teeth that had been knocked out in the attack, three were never found assumed taken from the scene, along with her bikini bottoms, T shirt, trousers and a towell.
Her bag with valuables, including $509 and a Sony Walkman, were found 50 metres from her body, on "disturbed sand" that looked like a site of struggle.
Cafasso's murder on an open beach in broad daylight sent "a shock wave" through the trusting community.
Police initially followed a lead suggesting Italian mafia involvement, but Interpol could not find any evidence of organised crime.
The disappearance of German tourist Nancy Grunwaldt two years earlier created rumours a serial killer could be living in the area — but that was eventually also ruled out.
"Everyone here just left their car doors unlocked, their front doors unlocked, screen doors — everything," Jackson said.
"It was such an untouched community. Everyone trusted and knew each other.
"People who were probably quite harmless lovely people in the community all of a sudden then ended up with question marks over their heads.
"I know that there's been some people who moved away from the area, some people's marriages broke up, some people wanted to move, some people couldn't cope with living here again."
Women had complained their underwear was going missing prior to the attack on Victoria. In a small seaside town, I can understand how that and a really nasty murder would unnerve people.
Of the 300 nominated suspects, police homed in on three — a local fisherman, a doctor and another man. All eventually cleared.
The Launceston Criminal Investigation Branch is working with a University of Tasmania researcher on new technology which it hopes could trigger a breakthrough in the case.
"We're looking at some possibilities of whether there's some new technology available regarding extraction of DNA from one particular exhibit that we're looking at," Steven said.
"They're saying with this particular exhibit it could be a possibility that we might be able to do something with it.
A fuller account here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10...asso-25-years-ago-is-still-out-there/12712820
On an open beach, in broad daylight, 20-year-old Italian tourist Victoria Cafasso lay dying. Victoria was visiting from Italy and only been there a few days.
Fifty people visited Beaumaris Beach on the idyllic Tasmanian coastline that day in 1995 — but no-one saw or heard a thing.
In a particularly vicious attack, she had been bludgeoned with a blunt object and stabbed 17 times. Bizarrely, of her teeth that had been knocked out in the attack, three were never found assumed taken from the scene, along with her bikini bottoms, T shirt, trousers and a towell.
Her bag with valuables, including $509 and a Sony Walkman, were found 50 metres from her body, on "disturbed sand" that looked like a site of struggle.
Cafasso's murder on an open beach in broad daylight sent "a shock wave" through the trusting community.
Police initially followed a lead suggesting Italian mafia involvement, but Interpol could not find any evidence of organised crime.
The disappearance of German tourist Nancy Grunwaldt two years earlier created rumours a serial killer could be living in the area — but that was eventually also ruled out.
"Everyone here just left their car doors unlocked, their front doors unlocked, screen doors — everything," Jackson said.
"It was such an untouched community. Everyone trusted and knew each other.
"People who were probably quite harmless lovely people in the community all of a sudden then ended up with question marks over their heads.
"I know that there's been some people who moved away from the area, some people's marriages broke up, some people wanted to move, some people couldn't cope with living here again."
Women had complained their underwear was going missing prior to the attack on Victoria. In a small seaside town, I can understand how that and a really nasty murder would unnerve people.
Of the 300 nominated suspects, police homed in on three — a local fisherman, a doctor and another man. All eventually cleared.
The Launceston Criminal Investigation Branch is working with a University of Tasmania researcher on new technology which it hopes could trigger a breakthrough in the case.
"We're looking at some possibilities of whether there's some new technology available regarding extraction of DNA from one particular exhibit that we're looking at," Steven said.
"They're saying with this particular exhibit it could be a possibility that we might be able to do something with it.
A fuller account here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10...asso-25-years-ago-is-still-out-there/12712820
