Man arrested in Italy nearly 50 years after two Melbourne women found dead in their home

Rome: A man has been arrested in Italy over the 1977 murders of two women, Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett, who were found dead in their Melbourne home on Easey Street, Collingwood.

A 65-year-old man, a Greek-Australian dual citizen, was arrested at a Rome airport on Thursday evening, Australian eastern time.

Victoria police will seek an extradition order for his return to Melbourne.

Armstrong and Bartlett were killed in January 1977 in their rented Collingwood terrace house while Armstrong’s 16-month-old toddler slept in another room.

The women’s bodies were found in the house on 13 January, three days after they had last been seen alive, with the child distressed and dehydrated but otherwise unhurt.

Both Armstrong, 27, and Susan, 28, had been stabbed multiple times, police said.

The Easey Street murders, as they became known, was one of Melbourne’s most high-profile cold cases, remaining unsolved for decades.

The case was the subject of a number of books and podcasts.

In 2017, a $1m reward was offered for anyone who had new information that might lead to the arrest and conviction of people responsible.

The chief commissioner, Shane Patton, on Saturday described the case as “an absolutely gruesome, horrific, frenzied homicide”.

Police had been looking for years for the arrested man, having identified him as a person of interest, Patton said.

Due to Greece’s 20-year statute bar on initiation of murder charges and the time that had elapsed before there was sufficient evidence to bring them, the man could not be charged while he was in Greece.

An Interpol red notice was issued for him instead, and Italian authorities acted on that when taking him into custody at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in Rome.

While the investigation is ongoing, Patton said that the arrest of the man was “an important breakthrough”.

“For over 47 years, detectives from the homicide squad have worked tirelessly to determine who was responsible for the deaths of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett,” Patton said.

“An enormous amount of work has been done by many, many people to bring us to the position we are in today … This was a crime that struck at the heart of our community – two women in their own home, where they should have felt their safest.”

Patton also recognised “the enduring resilience of both the Armstrong and Bartlett families, who have grieved for over four decades and no doubt this will be a very emotional time for them”.

Patton said the timeline for extradition would depend on the Italian authorities, but that he expected it would be at least a month before police would travel to Italy to give evidence to justify the extradition.

The families of Armstrong and Bartlett requested privacy in a joint statement on Saturday afternoon.

“For two quiet families from country Victoria it has always been impossible to comprehend the needless and violent manner in which Suzanne and Susan died. The gravity of the circumstances surrounding their deaths changed our lives irrevocably,” the statement said.

“We will be forever grateful for the support and understanding shown to us by our friends and family over the past 47 years. It is difficult to sufficiently express our appreciation to Victoria police and the many investigators who have tirelessly pursued answers and justice for us over such a long period of time.

“The perseverance and dedication required to achieve the result today is something to truly behold. For always giving us hope and never giving up, we simply say, thank you.”