What accused Easey Street double killer told friends when he left Australia

The suspect in the Easey Street double-murder case said he was moving to Greece to take care of an ailing parent when he left the country in 2017 after being asked by detectives to submit a DNA sample in the nearly five-decade cold case.

Perry Kouroumblis was arrested in Italy last week on behalf of Victoria Police after an investigation into his alleged involvement in the rape and murder of Suzanne Armstrong and murder of Susan Bartlett in January 1977.

Perry Kouroumblis, a 65-year-old dual citizen of Australia and Greece, was arrested in Italy.

The 65-year-old is in custody in Rome awaiting an extradition hearing that could see him returned to Australia. No charges have been laid, and if they are, they will need to be proven in an Australian court.

The break in the 47-year-old case has allegedly come as a result of DNA evidence linking Kouroumblis to the crime at the Easey Street home the two women shared with Armstrong’s 16-month-old son. Kouroumblis would have been 17 years old at the time.

This masthead has previously revealed that when approached by homicide cold-case detectives in 2017 to provide a DNA sample, Kouroumblis left for Greece on a “short holiday” and then did not return.

But a long-time associate said Kouroumblis told him in 2017 that he was leaving the country to take care of his ailing mother, who was living in Greece at the time.

Susan Bartlett (top) and Suzanne Armstrong were killed in their Easey Street, Collingwood, rental in 1977.Credit: Stephen Kiprillis

“He moved because his mother had moved there and she was alone. He moved to help their mother,” Arjan Tuli said.

“She decided to give one property to Perry and she said: ‘You come live with me and look after me and I’ll give you the property’.”

Tuli is the owner of the Melbourne home where Kouroumblis had been living before his move to Greece, and he also knew him for more than 20 years through his daughter, who is married to Kouroumblis’ brother, Tony.

Tuli said Kouroumblis, who worked as a welder and never married, had not returned to Australia in the past six years as far as he knew.

Tuli said he was shocked at the accusations made against Kouroumblis, who he called a “normal person”.

“We can’t believe Perry is involved in this sort of thing. He was very open, very calm,” Tuli told this masthead.

“I don’t think this can be proven because I don’t think Perry was that sort of person. If somebody had done this sort of thing he would be in hiding, not living a normal life over here as a normal citizen.”

Court records show Kouroumblis has had only minor brushes with the law in Australia, including driving while disqualified in 1996 and careless driving and drink-driving in 1999. Records are not available before 1993.

Kouroumblis first came to light in the Easey Street murder investigation in the week after the January 10, 1977, crime, when police allegedly found a knife and sheath in his possession in the Collingwood area that contained traces of blood.

Kouroumblis, then 17, told detectives he had found the knife on the railroad tracks in Collingwood about 90 minutes after the two women were last seen alive.

Armstrong and Bartlett were found dead three days later, when neighbours went to investigate crying coming from Armstrong’s toddler son, who was alive but dehydrated in his cot.

The 1977 coronial inquest into their deaths was told Kouroumblis had provided a statement to police, but he could not be located to testify at the actual hearings.

No one has ever been arrested for the crime.

In the late 1990s, the development of DNA testing led police to eliminate the original eight most likely suspects. Dozens more would be tested and cleared over the following two decades.

Then, in 2017, cold case detectives allegedly asked Kouroumblis to provide a sample. He allegedly agreed but then shortly afterwards left Australia for Greece.

It is understood a DNA sample from a relative established a match with other forensic evidence from the crime.

Victoria Police have been unable to compel his return to Australia due to Greece’s statute of limitations, which requires charges be laid within 20 years of the alleged offence.

Attempts through diplomatic channels to have Kouroumblis returned to Melbourne failed, and he was put on an international watch list.

Last week, Kouroumblis was arrested by Italian police at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport. It remains unclear why Kouroumblis left Greece to travel to Italy.

John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld. Subscribers can sign up to receive his Naked City newsletter every Thursday.