Murder victim Suzanne Poll’s family shocked and relieved after breakthrough arrest in 26-year-old cold case
The family of murdered mother Suzanne Poll have revealed their relief and shock following the arrest of a man allegedly linked — through DNA — to her vicious killing 26 years ago.
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The family of murdered mother Suzanne Poll have revealed their relief and shock following the arrest of a man allegedly linked — through DNA — to her vicious killing 26 years ago.
The man’s arrest on Friday in Ballarat was a cold case breakthrough Mrs Poll’s sister, Sandra Ryles, never thought would come.
The 70-year-old said she was driving home from Clare with her younger sister, Barbara Taylor, when the unthinkable call came.
“Adam, (Suzanne’s) son, rang and he just said ‘they’d arrested someone’,” she told the Sunday Mail.
“(It’s) a big shock really, after 26 years I thought (the person responsible) died.
“It was too vicious of a murder, she didn’t deserve it.”
Decades-old blood samples — found near Mrs Poll’s body at Sands & McDougall shop on John St in Salisbury — have allegedly connected the man to the murder on April 29, 1993.
Never a suspect in the case, the 46-year-old was arrested by detectives from the Victorian Cold Case after complex DNA familial testing.
Ms Ryles said her sister was working at the shop to earn extra money to help pay for ballet lessons for her daughter, Melissa.
Mrs Poll is believed to have closed the store for the day but left the front door unlocked.
She turned off all the lights except for the one where she was counting the day’s take.
Police will allege the man entered the store and attacked Mrs Poll and that as she tried to flee he stabbed her 18 times.
It will be alleged that in the frenzied attack the accused killer accidentally cut himself, leaving a DNA sample.
“She was a happy-go-lucky girl, she was a good mum, good wife,” Ms Ryles said.
“I’d like to see (whoever is responsible) get 26 years that we’ve missed with Suzi — 26 Christmas’, 26, anniversaries, 26 holidays and everything and see how (they) like it.
“That’s what I want.”
Head of Major Crime Detective Superintendent Des Bray said the motive for the crime still remains a mystery.
“We believe he was trying to rob her, but for reasons which are completely unknown to us, it escalated into a vicious, sustained attack which ended in her death,” Det Supt Bray said.
“We have checked that DNA constantly over the years and on each occasion it has been a negative result.
“We have previously conducted familial searches to try and identify someone that this offender may be related to without success.
“Relatively recently we again submitted the DNA for familial testing and we got a result showing that the offender was likely related to somebody who was on our database.”
That glimmer of hope helped detectives construct a family tree stemming from the new addition to the database.
It pointed them to the man, who was living only 300m from shop at the time of the murder.
Sadly, Mrs Poll’s mother, Barbara Ryles, died last year without knowing why her daughter was killed.
“(Before) she passed away I used to talk to her (because she wasn’t well) and I said: “Don’t hold on, Suzi’s waiting for you and she’ll look after you,” Sandra Ryles said.
“They’ll be together now with dad.”
“You don’t get over it. You still cry at Christmas time. (Suzi’s) not here.”
The arrested man is understood to have no criminal record and not to have been known to police.
According to police, a DNA sample was taken from him on September 6 and two weeks later detectives received a positive match.
Originally published as Murder victim Suzanne Poll’s family shocked and relieved after breakthrough arrest in 26-year-old cold case