How five words from a witness helped detectives solve case of Edward Camilleri, murdered by Domenico Papalia
DETECTIVE Sergeant Phil Neagle was about to shut the book on the 2011 murder of Edward “Eddie” Camilleri when a young catwalk model muttered five words that changed it all.
DETECTIVE Sergeant Phil Neagle was about to shut the book on the 2011 murder of Edward “Eddie” Camilleri when a young catwalk model muttered five words that changed it all.
“The investigation at that stage, in March 2012, was basically closed,” he said. “I had moved on to the drug squad and that was the last statement.”
Mr Camilleri, 50, was last seen alive on April 15, 2011, and his body was found buried in a shallow grave in a shed at a Two Wells property on August 31, 2011.
The property belonged to the grandparents of Domenico Antonio Papalia, Mr Camilleri’s best friend, who was the prime suspect from day one.
Tanya Powell Model Agency model Steven Zenuni had given a short statement to police but Sgt Neagle said something just didn’t add up.
“Investigators took a statement from Steven very early in the piece,” he said.
“We analysed a heap of call- charge records, which identified a number of witnesses and Steven was one of them.
“His initial statement just had so many inconsistencies, there was a multitude of telecommunications he had with Papalia.
“We had phone-mapping of his movements on the day, which had him going to Two Wells and back.
“He initially gave no account, it was a 12-page statement and didn’t go into any depth. There was nothing.
“It was one of the last statements we were going to take so I went back to him with another investigator to go over the inconsistencies, not expecting him to say anything.
“We suspected, if anything, that Domenic had rung him to help him move Eddie’s car back to his house but we didn’t have any idea he had any involvement in it. “After questioning him for five minutes, he said, ‘I was there for everything’.”
Sgt Neagle said that kick- started the investigation and involved a further nine months of gathering evidence.
Zenuni pleaded guilty to the murder in 2013 and would go on to give evidence against Papalia in his Supreme Court trial. He said he was tricked into hitting Mr Camilleri with a hammer, believing he was a dangerous man with firearms, before Papalia twice struck the victim with a sledgehammer.
Zenuni was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years and six months, while Papalia – who was found guilty by jury – was given a 22-year non-parole jail term.
