Knife found in car boot of teenage Perry Kouroumblis believed to be the same displayed by police

A knife displayed by police as the weapon used to kill two women in their Easey St home is believed to the same one found in the car boot of prime suspect Perry Kouroumblis days after the murders.

A knife police displayed as the possible Easey St murder weapon is believed to be the same one found in the car boot of prime suspect Perry Kouroumblis.

Ten days after Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28, were stabbed to death in their Collingwood home, police displayed a knife they suspected had been used in the January 10, 1977, crime.

It was around then that former Victoria Police officer Ron Iddles had seized a knife from the boot of a car being driven in the area by a teenager.

Mr Iddles told the Sunday Herald Sun last week that the teen — who was a young Mr Kouroumblis — said he had found it on nearby railway lines.

Mr Kouroumblis was recently arrested in Italy and Victoria Police will apply for his extradition to Australia within weeks.

The circumstances of the knife’s discovery match those outlined by detective Chief Insp. Eric Janetzki 10 days after the women were murdered.

The knife displayed by police as show in the Sun January 21 1977.

The Easey St house where Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were murdered. Picture: Josie Hayden

Chief Insp. Janetzki said it had been found at Victoria Park railway station by a youth.

The find was made between 10.20pm and 11pm on January 10.

Chief Insp. Janetzki had shown the weapon publicly and provided a detailed description in the hope of yielding more information on a crime which had shocked Victorians.

It was 26cm long and near-new, having no marks indicating it had ever been sharpened.

The weapon was in a brown sheath with yellow stitching and the brand name Mundial was stamped on the blade.

Chief-Insp. Janetzki said it would have been used with such force that the metal guard at the end of blade may have injured the murderer’s hand.

Detective Chief Inspector Eric Janetzki holds the knife police believe was used in the murders.

“We want to hear from any person who may have sold the knife or who may be able to identify it,” he told reporters.

It was revealed at the time that the knife had been wiped clean but forensic work later found traces of blood in its brown plastic handle.

Tests showed that blood was Group A, the same as Ms Armstrong’s.

If samples of that blood were kept, it would have since become possible for investigators to make a DNA match with Ms Armstrong, positively connecting it to the double-killing.

Police later canvassed hardware stores and disposals outlets in an attempt to trace who had bought it.

Mr Iddles, who later became a homicide squad senior sergeant, was stationed at Collingwood and had been in the force for about three years when he pulled over Mr Kouroumblis and searched the car.

Mr Kouroumblis, now 65, is in custody in a Rome prison, maintains his innocence and is reportedly willing to be brought back to Melbourne to answer allegations about Easey St.

Originally published as Knife found in car boot of teenage Perry Kouroumblis believed to be the same displayed by police