Identity of accused arrested over Easey St murders revealed

The brother of the man accused of killing two women in their Collingwood home says he would have fled Australia much sooner if he’d been guilty of the horrific crimes.

The brother of a man arrested in Rome over the Easey St murders says he would have left Australia a lot earlier if he was guilty of the brutal crimes.

Perry Kouroumblis fled to Greece in 2017 after police approached him to ask for a DNA sample as part of their investigation into the 47-year cold case.

But Tony Kouroumblis, who lived with his brother in Bendigo St, Collingwood at the time of the killings, dismissed the timing of Perry’s sudden flight to Greece, saying he wouldn’t have waited decades before leaving Australia if he was a guilty man.

“If he was going to hide, he wouldn’t have stayed here for 40 years-plus after that,” he said.

“If I did that, I would have left, you know, in a week or two weeks or whatever.

“But he was here for 40 years more, so it’s not as if he’s hiding.”

Mr Kouroumblis said his brother “didn’t have much” in Australia worth sticking around for.

The “reasonably close” pair last spoke about a week ago, but there had been no discussion about Perry’s plans to visit Italy.

He said he has been “numb” since hearing the news about his brother.

Perry Kouroumblis was arrested in Rome over the 1977 deaths. Picture: Facebook

“I don’t believe he has done anything, I can’t believe it,” he said.

“I don’t think he was capable of doing anything like that.

“I think it’s a big mistake. We will see what happens.”

The bodies of Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28, were found inside their Easey St home about three days after their horrendous killings in January 1977.

They had both been stabbed to death, while Ms Armstrong’s 16-month-old son was left unharmed.

Mr Kouroumblis, who was 17 at the time of the murders, had been pulled over by police with a knife in the boot of his car just two weeks after the women’s deaths.

Perry spent many years living in Bulleen in Melbourne’s east.

It is understood he was a student at Collingwood High School, now known as Collingwood College, where Ms Bartlett worked asan arts and crafts teacher.

Later, he ran a wrought iron supply business in the area for just over a decade before shifting it to Dandenong in 2014.

Perry then spent several years living in NSW, where he was snapped posing while seated on a motorbike in 2016.

He settled in Randwick, a suburb in Sydney’s inner east, but relocated back to Melbourne during the pandemic before relocating to Greece.

Former homicide investigator Ron Iddles revealed the then-teenage boy was intercepted in his car near the scene in Collingwood about a fortnight after the murders of Ms Armstrong and Ms Bartlett.

As police on Saturday announced the breakthrough in one of the state’s longest running murder investigations, Mr Iddles – the officer who pulled the young man over 47 years ago – told the Sunday Herald Sun that he searched the vehicle and found a knife in the boot.

When questioned, the teen claimed that he had found the weapon on bluestone at nearby railway tracks under a pedestrian overpass near Hoddle St.

Patrolling police had been told to be on the lookout in the period after the frenzied murders of Ms Armstrong and Ms Bartlett at their Easey St home.

Suzanne Armstrong.

Susan Bartlett.

Mr Iddles, who was then a three-year constable stationed at Collingwood, said he knew the teenager, who gave him no trouble that day, at the wheel of the vehicle when he pulled him over in 1977.

Former homicide investigator Ron Iddles has revealed the man arrested over the deaths of two women was pulled over by police with a knife in the boot of his car. Picture: David Crosling

The former homicide detective said he found the knife in the boot of the vehicle during a search before it was handed over to detectives.

“He was alright because I knew him. I never forgot it,” Mr Iddles said.

“I’d go so far as to say it was a ‘68 HK Holden.”

Mr Iddles, who is now retired, said he had decades later looked into the Easey St killings as a cold case.

He said: it was a “fantastic result for homicide and Victoria Police.”

The revelation came as police announced the now-65-year-old man was arrested at the Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome about 9pm Melbourne time on Thursday night.

That man was last night being held in an Italian jail after detectives swooped on him as he entered Italy from Greece after a “number of years”.

The Easey St murders are one of the most infamous in Victoria’s history.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said the man was arrested on Thursday. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

The brutality of the murders, occurring at the peak of summer in January 1977, rocked the nation to its core as police launched a widespread hunt for the killer.

Decades later, they would finally slap handcuffs on the man – who later fled to Greece and was arrested in Rome this week – who they alleged was responsible.

It is understood charges against the suspect cannot be laid until he lands back in Australia.

Legalities surrounding arrest warrants in Greece meant police in Europe could not detain him until he entered another country.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton on Saturday said the homicide squad were forced to wait until he left Greece before the suspect could be arrested.

An Interpol red notice was issued for the suspect, who was 17 at the time of the killings, with two charges of murder and one charge of rape.

“I think this is Victoria’s most serious cold case and longest cold case that we’ve ever solved,” he said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.

“He wasn’t able to be arrested in Greece. There is a 20-year, as I understand, statute bar on initiation of murder charges. Our warrant wasn’t issued within that 20-year period and so it was a matter of waiting, if you like, until he was outside of Greece.

The suspect was arrested in Rome.

“I don’t know the reason why the suspect was in Italy, or was transitioning through or to Rome. All I know is that through having the warrants in place, through working with interpol, the red notice has worked.”

He said it could take months before his members jet out of Melbourne to secure the extradition back to Victoria as authorities in Europe would have to agree to such terms.

“We need to go through the federal Attorney-General’s department, we need to provide materials so we can then present that to an Italian court, it needs to be translated into Italian,” he added.

“We’ll need to provide some evidence and there will be detectives from Victoria going over (to) give that evidence to justify the extradition.

“I wouldn’t expect we would be going over (to Italy) anywhere before ... it would be at least a month before detectives would be going over but I can’t be certain of those timelines.

“That will be determined by the authorities over there.”

He said it was a testament to the entire police force — which includes officers from several departments including homicide — who have worked on the case currently and in the past.

He said there was “no expiry” to crimes such as this.

“I think it’s an amazing outcome,” he added.

“We don’t forget these matters.”