Suspect in 1977 Easey Street murders, Melbourne's oldest unsolved case, arrested in Italy

A man suspected of brutally murdering two women in Australia nearly half a century ago has been arrested in Rome on an international arrest warrant, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Saturday.

The 65-year-old suspect, who holds both Greek and Australian citizenship, was arrested at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Thursday after landing on a plane from Greece, ANSA reported. Australian Victoria Police said in a press release that the suspect was arrested at a Rome airport on Thursday. An arrest warrant has been issued for him, police said, and the suspect is currently in custody in Italy.

Police said they would now work to have the suspect extradited to Victoria.

According to Australian media, the man lived in Greece, where he was protected by the statute of limitations there.

Australian police said on Saturday they would begin proceedings to extradite the suspect and Italian courts would set the timetable.

The suspect is accused of killing two friends – Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28 – in a knife attack that shocked Australia in January 1977.

The young women were found dead in their rented home in Easey Street, Melbourne, while Armstrong's 16-month-old son lay unharmed in his cot in another room. Both Armstrong and Bartlett had been stabbed multiple times.

“This was a crime that struck at the heart of our community – two women in their own home where they should have felt safest,” Victoria Police Chief Shane Patton said in a statement.

The crime, known as the Easey Street Murders, became Melbourne's longest and most serious unsolved case, but no one has been arrested yet.

Victoria Police offered a $1 million reward for the capture of those responsible in 2017. That same year, new technology led to a breakthrough in the case, as the suspect went on the run after being asked to provide a DNA sample.