Andrew Rule: The Easey St murders: A horror crime unsolved for almost 50 years

The Easey Street murders remain one of Victoria’s most baffling unsolved cold cases — what happened to two women found dead in a Collingwood home almost 50 years ago?

Suzanne Armstron and Susan Bartlett were killed in Easey St, Collingwood in 19777.

The Easey Street murders remain one of Victoria’s most baffling unsolved cold cases — what happened to two women found dead in a Collingwood home almost 50 years ago.

Suzanne Armstrong and her friend, Susan Bartlett, mates from Benalla, moved into 147 Easey St, Collingwood, in late 1976. Suzanne was a single mother with a 15-month-old son, Gregory. Susan Bartlett taught at a Collingwood school.

The “two Sues”, aged 27, led a busy social life. A few days after New Year’s Eve, Suzanne took a blind date with shearer Barry Woodard, brother of her sister Gayle’s boyfriend. They went out twice more. Barry took Suzanne home after an outing, on Sunday night, January 9. He promised to call the next day, and did. But no one answered.

Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett.

Easey St in Collingwood where Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were found dead. Picture: Supplied

On that Monday, January 10, Susan Bartlett made dinner for her brother Martin and his girlfriend, Vicki Crowe. When Martin and Vicki left about 9pm, the two Sues were watching television.

Sometime later that evening, while Suzanne was reading in bed in the front room of the long, narrow cottage, the killer arrived. The house had three bedrooms opening off a narrow hallway. The kitchen and bathroom were at the back, cut off from the bedrooms by the living room. So if Sue Bartlett was taking a bath or doing washing “down the back” late that hot Monday night, she might not at first have heard what was happening 15m away.

The killer might not have realised Suzanne was not home alone until Susan heard the noise and came running to help, only to be attacked in turn in a stabbing frenzy.

That’s what happened, though whether it was early in the evening or long after midnight no one can tell.

The hallway in the house in Collingwood where the murders took place.

Next day, the neighbours on the other side of the shared wall at number 149 got up early after a late night. Ilona Stevens, who worked at the Truth newspaper office, had brought home her work colleague John “Grunter” Grant to play pool and have a drink. Stevens’ housemate Janet Powell had come home at midnight and they had stayed up until 2am. Grant slept on the couch.

Ilona and Janet did not know the two Sues well but had seen them with little Gregory and a big pup. When Ilona left about 8am, she heard Gregory crying next door. Later, Janet saw the pup loose in the street and caught it. She knocked next door but no one answered. Later that evening, Ilona shouted over the side fence but there was no answer.

A bedroom in the house in Collingwood where Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were killed.

Late that night, they pinned a note about the pup to the front door. Even later, they could hear the phone next door ring out. The note was still on the door the next afternoon and they could hear Gregory crying. Janet noticed that the same light had been on in the neighbours’ house and it spooked her. Then they went into the back yard next door and Ilona walked through the back door and through the kitchen and living room.

147 Easey St in Collingwood, where Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were found dead in 1977.

Greg Armstrong stands in front of the home in Easey St 20 years after the killings.

Then she saw Susan Bartlett’s feet at the end of the hall. She approached the body, then saw Suzanne Armstrong in the front bedroom.

She found Gregory in his cot in the middle bedroom, weak and dehydrated. She called to Janet to ring the police.

The killer had washed himself. There was blood in the bathroom and a bloodied towel on a couch. There was a footprint on the bedspread in Sue Bartlett’s room, where the window was ajar.