Emanuel Sapountzakis, Michele Brown: Cold cases in Endeavour Hills, Frankston
The families of a taxi driver gunned down in Endeavour Hills and a woman found dead behind a Frankston gun shop are still searching for answers.
South East
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Despite dogged police work and pleas from desperate families, these are the cold cases still haunting Melbourne’s south east.
Can you help solve them?
Emanuel Sapountzakis
Taxi driver and chemical engineering student, Emanuel Sapountzakis, was found murdered in the Police Paddocks in Endeavour Hills in 1993.
The 26-year-old father was found by a passer-by at 8.30am on March 2, in an area off Greenbank Drive.
When found, Mr Sapountzakis had multiple gunshot wounds, and had died from a fatal head injury.
On March 1, the afternoon before his murder, Mr Sapountzakis went to his employers house to pick up the cab he would be driving that evening.
After collecting the clue Ford Falcon EA taxi at 3.30pm in Wantirna, Mr Sapountzakis started his shift with Black Cabs.
Over the course of the evening, he received numerous jobs, and was continuously in contact with the Black Cabs’ communication depot.
Almost 12 hours after first beginning his shift, Mr Sapountzakis accepted a courier fare from Boronia to Dandenong at 2.03am. The in-car system indicated the dispatch to be complete at 3.29am. This was the last confirmed contact Mr Sapountzakis made before his murder.
At 7.28am the next morning, Black Cabs’ put a call out over its query channel, telling others to contact the company’s communication line if they saw Emanuel’s car.
Around this time, a witness located the blue cab on Mountain Highway in Bayswater outside the Vulcan Australia factory.
Locked and with the dome lights on, the taxi metre was still in operation, showing a fare of $127.80. Some of Mr Sapountzakis’ belongings were inside the cab, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Multiple witnesses contacted investigators after seeing Mr Sapountzakis’ cab around Scoresby Rd, Bayswater and on Stud Rd in Dandenong, allowing police to structure a timeline of his movements that night.
Investigators have made a note that before his death, witnesses said Mr Sapountzakis was often seen with large amounts of US currency, carried both in his wallet and pockets.
At the time of his murder, Mr Sapountzakis was living with his wife and two-year-old daughter in Clayton. His family migrated to Australia from Brazil in 1971, and he was studying at Monash University while working six days a week as a taxi driver.
Three decades on, police have been unable to solve Mr Sapountzakis’ murder.
Homicide detectives want to speak with anyone who saw Emanuel or his cab around Police Paddocks on the night of his death, or anyone who has knowledge of who may be responsible for his death and why.
Police are hopeful that any new information may lead to further avenues of investigation.
Michele Brown
Police are still searching for Michele Brown’s murderer three decades after her shocking death, and are offering $1 million for anyone who has relevant information.
Ms Brown was found murdered behind a gun shop in Frankston on March 13 in 1992.
Two weeks prior, on March 1 at about 12pm, the 25-year-old was driven by a friend from her home in Baxter, to another friend’s house in Frankston, where she stayed until 7pm that evening.
Ms Brown and another female friend walked to the Food Plus store on Dandenong Rd in Frankston. After borrowing 30 cents from her friend, Ms Brown called her brother and asked for her mum to pick her up from Frankston station.
Her friend left her at the store, getting a lift home with other friends passing by.
A witness saw Ms Brown walking away from Food Plus between 7 and 7.15pm, but it is unknown whether she made it to Frankston station, which was 4km away.
Later that evening, a cab driver reported that he saw a woman he believed to be Ms Brown near the phone boxes at Frankston station between 8 and 9pm.
Ms Brown’s mother arrived at Frankston station about 8pm, but couldn’t find her daughter.
Her mother searched for a while, before returning home.
Living just a few hundred metres from the station, a witness residing near Playne St Frankston, reported hearing two separate screams shortly after 9pm.
It wasn’t unusual for Ms Brown not to see her family for a few days, and as a result, she wasn’t reported missing until 12 days after her disappearance on March 13.
The following day, a staff member at Miall’s Gun Shop on Playne St, Frankston, discovered Ms Brown’s body in an old shed at the rear of the premises.
The store was about 400m south of Frankston station.
The shed on the premises was accessible from the railway line and surrounded by blackberry bushes.
Ms Brown’s body had decomposed significantly by this time, however, it was still determined she had been murdered by a person or persons unknown.
Investigators want to speak with anyone who saw a female fitting Ms Brown’s description in or around the public telephone box at Frankston station between 8 and 9pm on March 1, 1992.
Police are also looking to speak with anyone who noticed anything suspicious or unusual activity in the area around Playne St Frankston, or at the rear of the gun shop/at the vacant block behind it on that night.
Detectives are hopeful that someone will be able to provide information about who was responsible for her murder and why.
Anyone that has any information or saw anything relating to either of these cold case murders is urged to contact Crime Stoppers by phone on 1800 333 000, or make an anonymous report here.
gemma.scerri@news.com.au
