For almost 50 years Victorian police have made a major breakthrough in an infamous cold case. Two women were brutally killed in Melbourne’s inner-north in what become know as the Easey Street Murders. The case has frustrated authorities for 47 years, but today, police announced a man in his 60’s has been arrested in Italy.
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00:00After almost half a century, police are a step closer to solving one of Victoria's
00:07most brutal and bewildering cold cases.
00:10It was an absolutely gruesome, horrific, frenzied homicide.
00:16In 1977, school friends Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett, aged 27 and 28, were found
00:23dead inside their Collingwood home with multiple stab wounds.
00:27Police said Ms Armstrong was sexually assaulted before she was killed, while it was believed
00:31Ms Bartlett was stabbed after she went to help her friend.
00:34Ms Armstrong's 16-month-old son was left unharmed in his cot, where he remained alone for days.
00:41Police searched for clues low and high.
00:44In 2017, a million-dollar reward was offered for information that would lead to arrest
00:48and conviction.
00:49You're going to live the rest of your life in comfort.
00:55Say something.
00:57But today, 47 years on, there's been a major breakthrough.
01:00A 65-year-old Australian Greek national was arrested in Rome around 9pm on Thursday evening.
01:09Crime writer John Sylvester, who's followed the case for years, believes there might have
01:13been a forensic development, although police are remaining tight-lipped.
01:17The crime scene was so horrific, there was plenty of DNA that was stored.
01:24The suspect was 17 years old at the time of the alleged murders at this house on Easy
01:29Street all those years ago.
01:31Police say he'd been a person of interest for a number of years, but they were only
01:34able to arrest him once he left Greece due to the country's laws around serving warrants.
01:40In a statement, the Armstrong and Bartlett family said it's always been impossible to
01:44comprehend the needless and violent manner in which the women died, and thanked police
01:49and investigators for always giving us hope and never giving up.
01:53We simply say thank you.
01:55Police are working to extradite the suspect back to Victoria, where he'll be charged with
01:59two counts of murder and one of rape.