Breakthrough in 47-year-old cold case: Man arrested in Rome on suspicion of two murders of women

Australian police want to extradite the suspect, a Greek-Australian man. He was arrested at an airport in the Italian capital on Thursday and was taken into custody. According to the Australian newspaper The Age from Melbourne, the man was arrested based on a DNA test of a family member, but the police have not yet released the exact circumstances of the arrest. According to the newspaper, the man is said to have lived in Greece.

“For 47 years, detectives have worked tirelessly to identify the culprit,” said Shane Patton, chief police officer in the state of Victoria, where the city of Melbourne is located.

On 13 January 1977, the bodies of the two women were found in their home in central Melbourne. Armstrong had been stabbed 29 times and raped, while Bartlett had been stabbed 55 times. Armstrong’s 16-month-old son was found safe in his crib.