Peter Dupas charged with nursing home murder
Peter Dupas has been charged over the murder of an elderly Melbourne woman found dead in her bed 21 years ago.
Peter Dupas has been charged over the murder of an elderly Melbourne woman found dead in her bed 21 years ago.
Kathleen Downes, 95, died of multiple stab wounds and a cut throat on the morning of December 31, 1997.
The nursing home resident’s body was found by staff at the Brunswick Lodge Aged Care Facility in Melbourne’s inner-north later that morning.
Police did not find a weapon during an extensive search of the nursing home and the neighbourhood, and no identifiable fingerprints were found at the scene.
It is believed Mrs Downes’s killer entered the nursing home through a wind-out window and used bolt cutters to sever its winding mechanism. A stack of milk crates by the window were found by the window and the flyscreen had been cut.
In December, 2000, police put out a $100,000 reward for anyone who had any information about Mrs Downes’ death. They described her at the time as the “matriarch” of the nursing home.
Dupas was questioned over the murder in 2003. He will appear at the Supreme Court on March 14.
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