After almost half a century of investigations, a breakthrough has been made in a double homicide that shocked the Australian city of Melbourne in 1977. The alleged perpetrator has been arrested in Rome, on the other side of the world. He is a 65-year-old Greek-Australian accused of killing two young friends by stabbing them dozens of times. He was stopped by the police on Thursday evening at Fiumicino airport where he had landed on a flight from Greece for a holiday in Rome. He was carrying a Greek identity card that bore a name similar to the one he was known by in Australia . He had been wanted internationally for seven years.

After the murder, the man, who was a teenager at the time, was interviewed by investigators and released. Then, thanks to 'technological advances' over the years, the investigations accelerated. In 2017, he was asked for a DNA sample and since then the man has been untraceable. However, Australian investigators have still managed to make a comparison and identify him as the perpetrator of the crime. "Australia will now begin extradition proceedings for the suspect, a Greek-Australian citizen who was living in Greece where he was protected by the statute of limitations," announced the head of the Australian state police of Victoria, Shane Patton, in a press conference, describing this cold case as the longest and most serious in the Australian state . In 2017, the police had also offered a reward of one million Australian dollars (680 thousand US dollars) for information leading to an arrest of the person responsible for the double homicide described by the police chief as "absolutely gruesome, horrible and frenetic".

Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28, were found dead in January 1977 in the apartment they shared in a Melbourne suburb. They were in a pool of blood. Their bodies bore the marks of dozens of stab wounds. Suzanne's son, who was only 16 months old, was also at home with the two girls, who had been friends since they were little girls. It was the baby's crying, fortunately unharmed in his crib, that raised the alarm. The victims' relatives were moved when they heard the news of the suspect's arrest. Susan and Suzanne's families said they were "grateful for not having been forgotten" to the detective who has been following the case since 2015 and who announced the breakthrough.