A man suspected of the brutal killing of two women in Australia almost half a century ago has been arrested in Rome on an international arrest warrant, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Saturday.
The 65-year-old suspect, who holds dual Greek and Australian citizenship, was arrested at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Thursday after landing on a flight that had departed from Greece, ANSA said. Australia’s Victoria Police said in a press release that the suspect was arrested on Thursday at an airport in Rome. There was a warrant and arrest warrant for his arrest, police said, and the suspect is currently in custody in Italy.
Police said they will now work to have the suspect extradited to Victoria.
The man must have lived in Greecewhere he was protected by the country’s statute of limitations, according to Australian media.
Australian police said on Saturday they would begin the process of extraditing the suspect, and Italian courts would determine the timeline.
The suspect is accused of killing two friends – Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28 – in a knife attack that shocked Australia in January 1977.
The young women were found dead in their rented house on Easey Street in Melbourne, while Armstrong’s 16-month-old son was left unharmed in his cot in another room. Both Armstrong and Bartlett had been stabbed multiple times.
“This was a crime that struck at the heart of our community – two women in their own home, where they should have felt safest,” Victoria Police Chief Shane Patton said in a statement.
The crime, known as the “Easey Street murders”, became Melbourne’s longest and most serious cold case, but no one had been arrested until now.
Victoria Police offered a $1 million reward in 2017 for the capture of those responsible. That same year, new technology led to a breakthrough in the case, as the suspect became a fugitive after a request for a sample of his DNA.