‘Chilling’ murderer’s confession still haunts homicide detective Gary Jubelin in Eileen Cantlay case
Former homicide detective Gary Jubelin has revealed the “chilling” confession made by a killer he investigated on Sydney’s north shore.
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Veteran homicide detective Gary Jubelin has worked – and solved – hundreds of murders but he’ll never forget his first case in the investigator’s chair.
It was the murder of 80-year-old Eileen Cantlay, who was strangled to death in her own home.
More than 25 years on, Jubelin can still recall the chilling moment the perpetrator, Salvatore Previtera, made his confession in a police interview room, reliving every detail of his violent sexual attack on Mrs Cantlay in her Asquith home in Sydney’s affluent north shore.
Previtera, who lived next door to Mrs Cantlay with his mother, watched the elderly woman arrive home through her kitchen window before knocking on her door. As she knew the young man as her neighbour’s son, she had no qualms about letting him into her home.
Originally, his intention was to rob her.
He told police that when he entered Mrs Cantlay’s house he felt like grabbing and robbing her, but that “it just didn’t seem right, something didn’t feel right”. So he left.
However, Previtera returned for a second time later that evening. This time as Mrs Cantley was escorting him from her home, he grabbed her from behind, laid her on the floor, and tied her hands and legs together with cord.
He demanded money, and after taking approximately $60 from her handbag he began stroking her hip and thigh, before performing a sexual act.
Mrs Cantlay’s last breaths were stifled by Previtera as he strangled her with the cord from a nearby table lamp. As her still warm body lay dead on the floor, he continued to rifle through her house for cash.
“I was working with my first partner in plain clothes at the time, Jim Williams. And I remember we both walked out of that interview room.,” Jubelin’s the True Crime with Amelia Saw on YouTube.
“And it wasn’t the case of high-fiving or celebrating, we just felt drained because we’d been sitting with this evil person who had done this horrendous thing
“That was the type of investigation I got a taste for it. Not in terms of “rewards” – I pull back a little bit [from saying it was rewarding to work on] because I’m talking about the death of someone, but it was something that you could really throw yourself into, investigating homicides.”
Previtera pleaded guilty to murdering Mrs Cantlay and was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years for the cowardly crime.
Watch the full interview with Gary Jubelin on YouTube: True Crime with Amelia Saw
Originally published as ‘Chilling’ murderer’s confession still haunts homicide detective Gary Jubelin in Eileen Cantlay case
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