Father Anthony Bongiorno linked to 1980 bookshop slaying of Maria James
THE son of murder victim Maria James has broken a 33-year silence to implicate the family priest in her stabbing slaying.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE son of murder victim Maria James has broken a 33-year silence to provide police with a strong new motive for the family priest killing his mother.
Adam James recently revealed compelling new details about why he believes Father Anthony Bongiorno might have stabbed his mother to death in 1980.
Homicide squad cold case unit head Ron Iddles last week took a statement from Adam about the allegations against Father Bongiorno and is chasing them up.
The re-investigation of the unsolved Maria James murder is just one of many the cold case squad is doing or about to do.
Det-Sen-Sgt Iddles told the Herald Sun a review of 280 unsolved murders going back to 1950 has identified 30 that have become priorities as they have a high chance of being cracked.
Cold Case squad has hot arrest prospects
He also revealed:
THE cold case squad has identified a strong suspect for the murder of 18-year-old Thomas Cooper, who was shot dead as he sat in his car with his girlfriend at a well-known ''lovers lane'' at Ricketts Point, Beaumaris in 1980.
HIS squad will re-examine the 1982 murder of Gina Rossato as there is evidence that points to the identity of the killer.
THE cold case unit is also checking new information relating to the 1978 rape and murder of 12-year-old Denise McGregor, whose half-naked body was dumped in long grass by the side of a Wallan East road.
HE is confident he knows who killed nightclub singer Haroula Kipouridou in 1981 and who committed the unconnected murder of Annette Maree Steward in 1991.
NEW evidence has emerged this month that implicates a paedophile in the 1975 murder and disappearance of Maryborough schoolboy Terry Floyd.
Adam James and his older brother Mark are convinced their mother confronted Fr Bongiorno after Adam revealed the new evidence to her and that the confrontation could have ended with him murdering her.
They want the Catholic priest's body exhumed to get his DNA to prove whether or not he killed their mother in her Thornbury bookshop.
Cold Case Files - How our database works
The Herald Sun can't reveal what the new evidence is for legal reasons.
Police first spoke to Fr Bongiorno decades ago about the 1980 stabbing murder of Ms James.
While they received tips he might have killed Ms James - one of them through former Premier Jeff Kennett - none was sufficient to make him a firm suspect.
He last week became a stronger suspect in light of the allegations recently made to police by Ms James's intellectually disabled son Adam, 44.
Whoever killed Ms James left their DNA behind, and Sen-Sgt Iddles wants to compare that DNA sample with Fr Bongiorno's DNA.
Fr Bongiorno's sister has previously refused a request from Sen-Sgt Iddles to provide her DNA, which would be enough to determine if her dead brother was the killer.
Exhuming Fr Bongiorno's body to get his DNA is an option, but Sen-Sgt Iddles said he would need strong evidence to justify such a drastic step.
Adam James wasn't questioned by police at the time of his mother's death, due to him then only being aged 11 and advice from his carers that doing so would be too distressing.
His brother Mark, who was 13 when his mother was murdered, said yesterday he had raised the issue of Fr Bongiorno with Adam recently and Adam had revealed information he had never spoken about before.
“What he told me implicates Fr Bongiorno in the death of my mother and is new evidence that Adam and I believe warrants digging up Bongiorno to get his DNA ,so we know one way or the other if he is a murderer.''
“I have asked Adam why he didn't tell anyone else about this in the 33 years since Mum was murdered, but I don't think, with his intellectual disability, he realised the significance of it.''
