Perry Kouroumblis has been named as the individual arrested at Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome on late Thursday, September 19 in connection with the infamously unsolved Easey Street murders.
The 65-year-old’s arrest comes nearly 50 years after Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28, were allegedly murdered in their Easey Street home in Melbourne’s inner city suburb of Collingwood.
Armstrong’s infant son was found unharmed in his cot when police discovered the bodies on January 13, 1977.
According to the Herald Sun, it was revealed that two weeks after the women’s deaths Kouroumblis was stopped by police, who discovered a knife in the trunk of his vehicle. When questioned about the weapon, Kouroumblis claimed he had found it near some railway tracks.
In 2017, after police requested a DNA sample from him as part of their ongoing investigation into the murders, Kouroumblis left for Greece.
Kouroumblis’ brother, Tony Kouroumblis, told Guardian Australia there was no question his brother was innocent.
“I’ve just been numb, you know what I mean,” Tony Kouroumblis said. “I’m 100% sure it’s all a big mistake. 100% sure.
“That’s my feeling … I know my brother. I don’t think he’s capable of doing anything like that.”
The Kouroumblis family lived on Bendigo Street, Collingwood, less than 300 metres away from the house where the two women were killed. Perry was 17 when the killings occurred, and Tony was a year younger.
“Every now and then you hear about it on the TV and you’d say ‘I hope they catch somebody’,” Tony added. “So it always stayed on my mind.”
Source: The Australian.
