Mystery man with ‘slicked-back’ hair fled Maria James murder scene according to witness

A Melbourne woman has recalled seeing a ‘blood-splattered man’ fleeing the bookshop where Maria James was brutally murdered.

A blood-spattered man was spotted running across a road near where single mother Maria James was stabbed to death in her inner-Melbourne home.

Peter Wilson gave evidence at the coronial inquest into the unsolved 1980 murder on Thursday and described seeing a man running along a road near the murder scene about 12.45pm on June 17.

Mr Wilson said he was driving with his wife when he spotted a man on the median strip near her Thornbury bookshop in June 1980.

The pensioner said he missed making his turn after seeing the man but said he was wearing light-coloured clothes and there was blood on him.

A witness claims he saw a bloodied Anthony Bongiorno running across the road near where Mrs James was killed. Neg: 800617/50

The blood was “down the front of his shirt area to his waist”, Mr Wilson said.

He said years later he saw a photograph in a Facebook post for a TV show and recognised the man.

“Anthony Bongiorno,” he said when asked about who he saw.

No one has ever been charged over the 38-year-old single mother’s brutal stabbing death but six persons of interest were named in the latest inquiry and included Catholic priests Father Anthony Bongiorno and Thomas O’Keeffe. Both have since died.

It came as witnesses described the moment they saw a man bolt from the bookshop where Mrs James was killed.

Lorna Agosta was heading to the dentist in 1980 when she saw a mystery man run out of the High Street bookshop around noon.

“This man rushed out of the shop, slammed the door, raced out the door and he nearly got knocked by a car,” Mrs Agosta said.

“I just watched him and thought ‘what an idiot’.”

Maria James was stabbed 68 times at her home at the back of her Thornbury bookshop in 1980. Picture: Coroners Court via NCA NewsWire

The man slammed his hands on the bonnet of the car and then kept running past the garage on Hutton St.

She told the court she stopped and watched him run out the shop because of the way he took off and kept running across the road as the car almost hit him.

But despite seeing about the murder on the news that night and speaking to family, she didn’t go to police at the time.

It had been her “nightmare for 41 years” and she stayed silent due to fears her family might be in danger.

But she went to the police years later and was able to describe the mysterious man, including details about his hair.

“That I couldn’t forget – it was all slicked back,” Mrs Agosta said.

He wasn’t bad looking, was pretty fit, and could have been of European background, she told the court.

Witness Jeanette Savage helped police sketch artists compile this image of the man she saw in June 1980. Picture: Coroners Court via NCA NewsWire

But Mrs Agosta was adamant the mystery man was not Father Bongiorno, who was a priest at her children’s school.

During the hearing, another witness apologised to Maria James’ sons before giving her evidence about what happened the day their mother was killed.

“I’ve waited forty years to say this … I am sorry for what happened to your beautiful mother,” Jeanette Savage said.

She almost hit a man as she drove along High Street in Thornbury on the day of the murder.

“He touched the front of my car and he said sorry and then proceeded across the road,” Mrs Savage said.

She gave police a statement days later about the man before calling again to offer more details.

“He did have a gold ring on his finger,” Mrs Savage said.

A crime scene photo of the kitchen of the property where Mrs James was killed. Picture: Coroners Court via NCA NewsWire

The man was wearing a “fawny-coloured suit” with a white shirt and touched her car, she said.

She rang police and left a message with the receptionist about those details but never heard back from police.

Though she helped police sketch artists and identified men in line-ups and in photobooks, she could no longer recognise the man who she nearly hit.

“As much as it’s haunted me all these years that face is gone from me.”

Other persons of interest named at the latest inquiry include killer Peter Keogh.

The hearing continues.

Originally published as Mystery man with ‘slicked-back’ hair fled Maria James murder scene according to witness