Despite his brother’s adamant denial of involvement, the man detained in connection with Melbourne’s notorious Easey Street killings has been identified.
One of the victims worked at the school where Perry Kouroumblis lived; he was a student there. Perry lived within walking distance of the horrible murder site.
There has been no resolution to the murders in 47 years. Still, Perry Kouroumblis, 65, was stopped at an Italian airport upon his arrival from Greece.
In 1977, in their Collingwood home, he allegedly stabbed Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett to death, escaping with only Armstrong’s 16-month-old baby unharmed.
It was today that his brother Tony finally got up and talked.
It was “just shocked” and “just numb” that he described himself as. “I definitely don’t think he’s capable of doing anything like that,” he added.
Just 350 meters away from 147 Easey Street, the brothers lived on Bendigo Street together when they were killed.
As an arts and crafts teacher at Collingwood High School, Bartlett had the 17-year-old kid as one of her students.
Former homicide detective Ron Iddles stated that he apprehended the perpetrator one week subsequent to the heinous incident.
During my check of the vehicle, I discovered a blade in the trunk. He claimed to have seen what seemed to be blood smears close to the handle.
Detectives were presented with the knife by Iddles.
Reopening of the case occurred in 2017.
A DNA sample was submitted to the detectives by Tony and other relatives.
Instead of doing what he had promised, Perry took a plane to Athens.
“If he was gonna hide too, he wouldn’t have stayed here for 40 years plus after that,” he added.
An Italian court will determine whether to extradite him to Australia once the homicide squad submits a brief of evidence in 45 days.
