Australian university professor and sister found in shallow grave in Argentina

The bodies of an Australian university professor and her sister have been found in a shallow grave in the Argentine city of Mendoza.

Lily Pereg, left, and Pyrhia Sarusi in a photo posted on the Missing in Mendoza Facebook page.

The bodies of an Australian university professor and her sister have been found in a shallow grave in the Argentine city of Mendoza, with their son and nephew charged over their murders.

The remains of Lily Pereg, a 54-year-old professor of microbiology at the University of New England, and her sister, Pyrhia Sarussi, 63, were discovered by police at the bottom of a property occupied by Ms Sarussi’s son, Gil Pereg.

Police prosecutors have arrested Mr Pereg, 36, and charged him with murder, according to local media reports.

Ms Pereg was appointed a full professor at UNE just days before she travelled to the US and then to Argentina, Nine Entertainment reports. The pair were last heard from on January 11, local media reported.

Born in Israel, Lily Pereg studied science for her bachelor’s degree in Tel Aviv, and then completed a Master’s degree in Israel, specialising in the nitrogen fixation of seagrass.

She moved to Australia in the mid ‘90s after being awarded a scholarship to complete a PHD at the University of Sydney. She transferred to UNE in the early 2000s, where she was an

associate professor before her recent promotion to full professor.

According to local media reports, police have located film footage of the two sisters entering the main shed at Mr Pereg’s property but there is no film record or witness accounts of them leaving.

The last time the two women contacted family members in Israel was in the early hours of Friday January 11. Mr Pereg himself reported the two missing on Monday, January 14.

Argentinian media has reported that Mr Pereg was in a precarious financial situation.