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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music]
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147 easy street was a typical semi-detached terrace home for melbourne's inner city suburbs
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its front door opened to a narrow hallway with three bedrooms leading off to the right
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a bathroom sat at the end of the hall which also doubled as the laundry another door led to a living room and
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modest kitchen which opened to a small backyard encased by a fence from the yard a gate granted access to a
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side laneway that separated number 147 from a neighboring property and led out into the street
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on thursday january 13 1977 next door neighbor janet waited anxiously in the laneway
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at her side was a german shepherd cross puppy named mishka the dog belonged to the two young women
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who lived at 147 easy street suzanne armstrong and susan bartlett janet and her housemate alona had found
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mishka wandering the street two days earlier but knocks and calls to 147 had gone unanswered
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janet and elona had kept mishka secured in their backyard waiting for the two sues to come looking for her
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but no one did at one stage a loner peered over the fence into the backyard of 147 and
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noticed a rear door leading into the kitchen was open and a light was on her worries increased the following day
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when she overheard the distressed sound of crying through the home's shared wall
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it was suzanne's 16 month old son it was unusual for his cries to go ignored as suzanne was a very attentive
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and affectionate mother at their wit's end alona and janet headed next door to investigate
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they bypassed the front door a note they'd pinned there days earlier informing the women that their dog was
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loose remained untouched once in the side laneway janet waited with mishka while alona entered 147's
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backyard and disappeared through the open kitchen door a short while later alona rushed from
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the house in a panic call the police she said they're dead [Music] [Music] [Music]
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it took two calls to triple zero and over 20 minutes before a single police officer finally arrived at 147 easy
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street alona met him outside and led him into 147's backyard via the side laneway
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along the same route she had taken almost half an hour earlier mishka's vacant kennel sat under the
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kitchen window near the open back door the officer stepped inside into the narrow kitchen with its brick-a-brack
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filled shelves and onwards to the living room so far nothing seemed out of the ordinary
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there was a couch television and record player everything appeared neat and in order
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the officer reached the dimly lit hallway and peered towards the front door at the end of the hall lying face down
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next to the door was the bloodied body of susan bartlett she was fully clothed in a night dress
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with numerous stab wounds to her arms hands legs and upper torso alongside her the walls of the hallway
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were smeared and splattered with blood moving towards susan's body the officer glimpsed into the front bedroom
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inside suzanne armstrong lay on the carpet she was naked except for a red and white
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night dress that had been pulled up around her head her arms chest and chin were riddled with knife wounds and her
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legs were spread wide apart grasping the enormity of the situation the attending officer radioed for backup
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a swarm of police cars then descended on easy street the bartlett family hadn't been too
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pleased when susan announced that she was moving to collingwood in october of 1976.
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located four kilometers from melbourne's cbd the semi-industrial area had a checkered past
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even though it was gaining popularity with students and young people looking to take advantage of the cheaper and it
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still had a reputation as one of victoria's roughest suburbs crime rates were high and drugs and
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gangs were an ongoing problem but for 27 year old susan bartlett who went by sue
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collingwood offered everything she needed there was a milk bar on the corner reliable public transport nearby and it
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wasn't far from the high school where she worked as an art teacher the house at 147 easy street was basic
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but cozy and the rent was much more affordable than the place in nearby richmond where she had been living
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previously furthermore sue was looking forward to living with her friend 28 year old
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suzanne armstrong the two knew one another from high school having both grown up in the
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country town of banala the women had a lot in common both were intelligent creative and
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sociable and they shared a love of cooking and travel they'd recently explored the greek
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islands together proving they could live alongside one another without issue sue also had a great affection for
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suzanne's toddler son gregory by january 1977 sue and suzanne had been living in
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collingwood together for around two months monday january 10 started normally for
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both women they rose early ate breakfast together and then went their separate ways
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suzanne bathed gregory and the two took off on her bicycle to visit some friends
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sue's mother was in town and the two met to go shopping in the city sue went home to work on a dress she was
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in the process of sewing she was a talented seamstress who made most of her own clothes and she intended
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to wear this dress on a date she had planned for wednesday night after working on the dress for a while
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sue began to cook dinner in preparation for company sue's brother martin was a regular
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visitor to 147 easy street having also made the move to the big city from banala he enjoyed helping his
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sister with tasks around the house in exchange for a home-cooked meal sue's stereo had recently broken so
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martin agreed to come over for dinner and then have a go at fixing it martin got the stereo working and they
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all listened to some records but then sue and suzanne said they wanted to watch television
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one of their favorite shows the sullivans was about to start and they were keen to see it once suzanne put her
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son down for the night [Music] at around 9pm martin bid the women farewell with the bartlett siblings
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making plans to catch up again the following week it was an enjoyable albeit uneventful
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evening everyone was in good spirits and nothing seemed out of the ordinary when martin left suzanne and sue were
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comfortably settled in front of the television he would become the last person to see
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his sister and her friend alive given there were no further sightings of either of the women after martin laughed
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and their dog was found wandering the streets the following day it was determined they had likely been killed
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sometime in the early hours of tuesday january 11. neighbours didn't hear or see anything
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out of the ordinary although next-door neighbor alona recalled hearing gregory crying for a prolonged period on tuesday
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morning this meant that the bodies of susan bartlett and suzanne armstrong lay undiscovered in their home for three
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days while the young boy lay distressed and alone in his cart collectively the young women had been
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stabbed a total of 82 times with sue sustaining 55 stab wounds to suzanne's 27. the wounds were deep having likely been
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inflicted using forceful rapid thrusts with a two and a half centimeter wider blade
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suzanne had also been raped postmodern however it didn't appear that any great struggle had taken place
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other than a vas of flowers that had been knocked over suzanne's bedroom was in relatively neat order
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blood had pulled on the carpet above her head several drops of blood stained her
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bedsheet and a pair of her underwear lay beside her the scene indicated that suzanne had
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been reading in bed when she got up and encountered her killer who then launched
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a brutal and frenzied attack there were also smears of blood on the lamp and alarm clock next to the bed
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either suzanne had reached over in an attempt to grab her bedside phone to call for help or the killer had reached
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over to turn the lamp off the location of sue bartlett's body in the hallway just outside of suzanne's
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bedroom suggested she had likely confronted the killer after suzanne was already dead
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sue's hands and arms were covered with defense wounds which explained the smears of blood on the hallway walls
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investigators believed that after killing sue the perpetrator returned to suzanne's bedroom to rape her lifeless
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body the attack had been so quick and savage that neither woman had any time or opportunity to seek help
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gregory was discovered in the middle room between the two women's bedrooms he was found lying hungry in his cart
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his skin pale and nappy soiled other than having been dehydrated and distressed for some time he was alive
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and unhurt his room which doubled as sue's sewing room was relatively tidy and didn't
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appear to have been touched during the attack sue's bedroom at the end of the hall was
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similarly neat and there was no blood smudges of blood were discovered in the bathroom specifically in the bathtub
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blood pulled around the plughole and small bone splinters were found in the crook of the drain
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this suggested that the killer had showered after carrying out the murders with the bone fragments having likely
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been washed from their knife the knife itself was nowhere to be found small spots of blood were also found on
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the lid of the washing machine the killer might have used the machine or at least considered doing so
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the living room revealed further evidence of the killer's attempt to clean themselves up
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a small blood-soaked tower lay on the couch a second blood-soaked towel was found at
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a playground 300 meters from number 147 on wellington street as dna testing wasn't available in the
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late 70s it couldn't be determined whether any of the blood belonged to the killer
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sue's blood type was type o and suzanne's was type a both common blood groups only type a blood was found in suzanne's
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bedroom the bathroom and on the blood-soaked towels while only typo blood was found smeared in the hallway
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this either meant that the killer wasn't wounded during the attacks or that he shared a common blood type with one of
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his victims however he did leave one undisputable piece of evidence behind semen was found on suzanne armstrong's
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body as well as on her bedroom carpet bed sheets and one of the towels there were no signs of forced entry into
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number 147 and when police arrived both the front and back doors were unlocked if the women had purposely left the
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doors unlocked which they were known to do the killer might have let himself in uninvited walked into suzanne
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armstrong's bedroom and launched an attack yet the top sheet of suzanne's bed was
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neatly folded over and a book was face down on the corner it appeared as though she'd been reading
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in bed when her killer entered if it was a stranger suzanne would have scrambled out of bed in a panic leaving
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things in a far more disorderly state than the way they were found maybe the killer had knocked on the
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front door or on suzanne's window and she had let him inside or perhaps she had been expecting a
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guest and had left the front or back door unlocked so they could let themselves in
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they might have exchanged words or maybe suzanne rejected his sexual advances which had enraged him
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suzanne's family didn't believe she was expecting a visitor suzanne always wore decorative earrings
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but at the time of her death she was wearing plain gold sleepers her family said she would never wear
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sleepers if she was expecting male company sue was likely in the backyard kitchen
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or possibly doing some laundry at the time which would explain why she hadn't heard the attack right away
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when she realized what was going on she likely confronted the assailant who turned his fury to her
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sue had been stabbed almost twice as many times as suzanne there were wounds all over her body
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including on her buttocks and the back of her thighs the killer had continued his attack even
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after sue lay incapacitated and face down on the floor however the level of overkill sue
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endured didn't necessarily mean that she was the killer's main target the fact that sue hadn't been sexually
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assaulted whereas suzanne had indicated that suzanne was most likely the intended
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victim sue might have been killed in such a vicious way because she took the perpetrator by surprise and he wanted to
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ensure there were no witnesses the question remained who would want to hurt these two young women and why
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when investigators initially examined sue bartlett's bedroom nothing appeared noticeably out of place
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however upon closer inspection they realized something wasn't quite right sue's bed sat directly under a window
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which looked out to the side laneway the blind on the window had fallen away at the corner and underneath was a dirty
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shoe print on sue's bedspread after news of the murders hit the press a tobacco salesman named colin fowler
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not his real name showed up at the police station claiming he was the one who left the shoe print
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colin explained that on tuesday january 11 he was growing worried about the fact
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he hadn't heard from sue in a couple of days the two had met the previous week and
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had a date planned for wednesday evening colin had been trying to call sue to confirm the details but nobody was
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answering the phone he wondered if she might have given him the wrong number by mistake
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colin liked sue and was eager for their date to go ahead on tuesday night he had a few too many
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drinks and decided to stop by easy street colin was familiar with the house having
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spent the night there he headed down the side laneway and knocked on sue's bedroom window
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there was no reply not thinking straight on account of being inebriated colin decided to climb
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in through the window and check sue's phone to make sure he had been calling the right number
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as he clambered through he knocked the window blind off in the process before leaving his dirty shoe print on sue's
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bed colin crept up the dark hallway and into the living room the light was on in the kitchen so he
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managed to find the phone which had its number displayed on the dial it confirmed that he'd been calling the
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right number so where was sue colin didn't poke around any further he was keen to get in and out as quickly
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as possible so he hastily left the house the same way he'd entered had he looked down the hallway he would
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have noticed sue's bloodied body lying by the front door whether it was the fold of the alcohol
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or the darkness colin claimed he never saw sue's body colin found out about the murders after
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a friend read about them in a newspaper and recognised sue's photo he was horrified to discover he'd been
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in the house while the two women lay undiscovered he also realized this didn't look good
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for him enlisting the help of a lawyer colin immediately went to the police station
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to clear his name investigators weren't convinced it seemed highly unlikely that colin
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could have stood mere meters away from sue's body and not seen her nor heard suzanne's son's weak cries for
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attention colin had also been one of the last people to spend time at 147 easy street
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having slept over with sue two nights prior witnesses recalled seeing his car parked
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out the front at the time it was a white mercedes and hard to miss was it possible that colin had sneaked
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in through the window killed both women washed himself clean then quickly fled the area
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his story about checking sue's phone number could be a ruse used to explain away his footprint at the scene
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according to colin a friend had accompanied him on his late night track to easy street
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he stood watch in the laneway as colin broke into sue's bedroom the friend vouched for colin's entire
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story confirming he was in and out of the house in a matter of minutes and made no mention of seeing anything out
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of the ordinary inside yet colin fowler wasn't the only person prowling around 147 easy street
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in the kitchen investigators discovered an envelope tucked under an ashtray on a
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table a phone number was written on the back of it along with the message to ring now
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it was an urgent request as the word now was capitalized and had been followed up
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with an exclamation mark alongside the phone number was the name barry woodard 31 year old barry woodard was thrilled
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when he was set up on a blind date with suzanne armstrong late in 1976. they were introduced by suzanne's sister
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who was going out with barry's brother barry and suzanne got along great although they had only been on three
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days barry could feel himself falling for zuzan and he even began considering marriage
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on sunday january 9 1977 suzanne joined barry for dinner at his sister's house in the suburb of
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northcutt where barry was staying at the time he worked as a roving shearer which
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meant he was constantly moving around but he typically stayed at his sister's house on weekends
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after dinner he dropped suzanne back at easy street barry was invited inside for coffee and
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suzanne suggested he stay the night but as he was expecting a call regarding a shearing job early in the morning barry
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declined the offer he drove back to northcutt at around midnight the next morning barry didn't get the
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job call he was expecting he called suzanne to let her know that he wouldn't be working after all but
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nobody answered the phone the two had already discussed another dinner date for tuesday evening and
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barry was keen to lock in the details he kept calling suzanne but the phone continued to ring out
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by tuesday evening he still hadn't heard from suzanne to confirm what time she wanted to be picked up that night
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barry tried calling her several more times but with no success by wednesday afternoon barry was really
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starting to worry although he hadn't known suzanne long it simply wasn't like her to flake on their
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plans without being in touch he shared his concerns with his brother and the two decided to drop by easy
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street to make sure everything was okay they arrived at around 8 30 pm on wednesday
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it didn't look like anyone was home no lights were on inside and there was a note pinned to the front door
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the two brothers walked down the side laneway and through the rear gate into the backyard
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a light was on in the kitchen and the back door was slightly ajar barry knocked on the door and yelled out
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suzanne's name there was no reply he figured she couldn't be too far away but the thought of entering the house
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without permission made barry feel uneasy the brothers decided they'd just duck inside quickly to leave susan a note
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they went into the kitchen scribbled barry's number down on the back of an envelope and left it on the table
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barry's brother suggested they checked the bedrooms but barry didn't feel comfortable going any further so they
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left to via the back door and returned to their sister's house had they headed down the hallway they
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would have encountered the dead bodies of both women [Music] on thursday morning barry called 147
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easy street again finally someone picked up the phone it was a homicide detective who broke
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the news about the murders barry was in shock when he identified himself the detective
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recognized his name from the envelope on the kitchen table he immediately sent authorities to
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barry's sister's house to bring him to the police station for questioning barry insisted he had nothing to hide
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he hadn't noticed anything unusual at 147 easy street when he visited on wednesday night nor had he heard gregory
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crying barry said that if he had he would have gone down the hallway to see if everything was all right
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as for the night of the murders barry told police he and his brother went drinking at a pub before returning to
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their sister's home where they were both staying they ate a late dinner had some more
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drinks and watched television barry said he went to bed around midnight and didn't get up until early
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the next morning his sister verified this alibi she had stayed up until 2am and didn't
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recall seeing barry leave the house at any point when she got up at 6 30 am she brought
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barry a cup of coffee there was nothing unusual about his appearance or demeanor
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barry was heartbroken by the news of suzanne's death he declared his love for her via the
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press saying he was very fond of suzanne's son and would happily adopt him investigators weren't so sure
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barry's own admissions had placed him at the scene of the crime before the bodies
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were discovered and it seemed a bit strange that he wouldn't have checked the entire house if he was that worried
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about suzanne they also couldn't rule out the possibility that he had sneaked out of
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his sister's house during the night without anyone noticing given he was dating suzanne at the time
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of the murders he was an obvious suspect investigators weren't entirely sure what
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to make of the situation while it was highly unusual that two men who were romantically involved with the
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victims had entered the crime scene it didn't mean either of them were guilty as police began questioning friends and
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associates of the two women they learned that barry woodard wasn't the only man that suzanne armstrong had recently been
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involved with described as quote very attractive with the personality to match suzanne had
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several admirers some friends described her as too trusting and said she'd recently been
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spending time with some questionable people on occasion she had invited them to easy
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street which had made sue feel uncomfortable one such person was a former police
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officer who had been kicked off the force for sexually assaulting female motorists while on the job
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he had attended a housewarming party the two sues had thrown just weeks before the murders and some guests recalled
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he'd been watching suzanne very closely investigators questioned the former officer who gave contradictory
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statements when asked about his whereabouts on the week of the murders something about his behavior seemed
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off then there was an ex-boyfriend that suzanne's family believed could be involved
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a violent alcoholic with a criminal record this man was reportedly drinking in a collingwood pub on the night of the
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murders just blocks away from easy street his girlfriend vouched for his whereabouts saying the two were together
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the entire night working on the theory that suzanne may have rejected the sexual advances of a
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former lover or someone she had recently been spending time with several other men were added to the suspect pool
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investigators also had to consider whether the killer could have been motivated by revenge
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suzanne was a romantic at heart it was while she was visiting the greek islands that she met a local fisherman
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named manolas the two fell in love and suzanne stayed in greece for a while she soon became pregnant and she and
00:33:30
manolis decided to get married foreign bureaucracy complicated their plans and they ultimately felt it was
00:33:38
too much hassle after giving birth suzanne was homesick for australia but manolis didn't want to
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leave knowing that he wouldn't agree to let her take their baby boy away for good
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suzanne told monalis she was simply returning to australia for a visit when she reached melbourne with baby
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gregory she sent manolas a letter saying she wouldn't be coming back to greece manolas was heartbroken
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he thought suzanne was the love of his life and he struggled to come to terms with the abrupt separation
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while this could have given manolas a motive to want to hurt suzanne police confirmed he never left greece
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some speculated whether manolis might have had ties to the strong greek community in collingwood and sent
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someone to pay susan a vengeful visit on his behalf but there was no evidence to support
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this theory while evidence indicated that the killer targeted suzanne armstrong this couldn't
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be said with absolute certainty it was possible that the crime was a random opportunistic attack committed by
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a dangerous predator two pubs were within close walking distance of 147 easy street both of
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which closed at midnight this gave a reason for men who didn't necessarily live nearby to be in the
00:35:12
area late at night police couldn't discount the possibility that someone unknown to the victims had
00:35:19
committed the crime in a drunken rage detectives got to work at gathering the names of all known sex offenders both
00:35:28
locally and interstate witnesses who saw anything out of the ordinary in the early morning hours of
00:35:36
tuesday january 11 were urged to come forward dry cleaners who may have laundered
00:35:42
blood-stained clothing were also told to contact the authorities a police spokesperson said
00:35:51
the killer can't have washed off all the blood someone must have seen him a friend or a
00:35:57
relative probably or maybe someone in the street just so long as that someone tells us
00:36:05
this man is sick very sick and unless we catch him he will strike again then came a promising discovery
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shortly after the double homicide a police officer was searching a car in relation to a separate matter
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in the boot of the vehicle he found a leather sheath that held a blood-stained knife
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it was 26 centimeters long with a small curve at the tip of the blade that could
00:36:35
have been caused by hitting something solid like bone the vehicle's owner strongly denied
00:36:43
having anything to do with the easy street murders he insisted he had found the knife on
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the platform of the victoria park railway station 450 meters north east of the murder
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scene he'd come across it on monday january 10 sometime between 10 20 and 11 pm although this seemed highly suspicious
00:37:09
the owner of the vehicle was quickly ruled out not only did he have an alibi for the
00:37:14
night of the murders others also vouched for his story about finding the knife investigators ultimately discounted the
00:37:23
knife as the murder weapon given that it was found only 90 minutes after sue bartlett's brother martin left easy
00:37:31
street it didn't seem possible that the killer could have conducted such a frenzied
00:37:37
attack spent time in the house cleaning himself up and then made it to victoria park station in such a short time frame
00:37:50
respected journalists to test lawrence covered the armstrong and bartlett case at the request of police
00:37:58
she attended 147 easy street when suzanne and sue's loved ones were permitted to enter their house to
00:38:04
collect their belongings published in the herald newspaper tessa's article detailed the layout of
00:38:11
the house and the items within shortly after it ran tess received a phone call at work from a man whose
00:38:20
voice she didn't recognize he began dissecting the details of her article line by line and criticized tess
00:38:29
for not being very observant tess had mentioned there was a record player in the living room the one martin
00:38:37
bartlett had stopped by to fix on the monday night but she didn't mention the names of any
00:38:42
of the records the caller pointed this out he then mentioned the name of one record
00:38:51
claiming it was on the turntable at the time during the early days of the media coverage it's believed that police
00:39:01
intentionally fed journalists several incorrect details so they'd be able to identify any misinformation or false
00:39:09
confessions that might come through not only was it falsely reported that sue bartlett had also been raped but a
00:39:17
layout of the murder scene published in newspapers purposefully included a few minor discrepancies
00:39:25
when tess lawrence's article about the crime was published she deliberately admitted the name of the record that was
00:39:32
on the living room turntable at the time the murders were carried out tess was left stunned when the
00:39:39
mysterious caller correctly named this record she scrolled a quick note to a colleague
00:39:46
asking to try and have the call traced while simultaneously trying to keep the caller on the line
00:39:53
he refused to identify himself but claimed to work at the victoria barracks the caller said he'd phoned back before
00:40:03
abruptly ending the call tess immediately reported the incident to the police [Music]
00:40:13
this was just one of thousands of tip-offs received in the first two weeks of the armstrong bartlett murder
00:40:19
investigation at the time victoria's homicide squad only had 16 detectives in the first 21 days of january alone 11
00:40:31
murders had been committed throughout the state for an average of one murder every second
00:40:36
day it was the largest number of murder cases on record since 1955. resources were stretched incredibly thin
00:40:48
while the easy street murders was one of the most brutal sex crimes in victoria's
00:40:52
history investigators had several other unsolved cases vying for their attention
00:40:59
the owner of a massage parlor was shot to death outside his home while another man had been stabbed in the throat with
00:41:05
a broken beer bottle a husband and wife was shot during a home invasion the woman survived but the
00:41:13
man wasn't so lucky none of the other murders were thought to be linked to the deaths of sue and
00:41:20
suzanne but those critical of the investigation believed the spiking crime meant the easy street case wasn't
00:41:27
getting the undivided attention it deserved surely a case of that nature which had
00:41:34
terrified young women all over the city should be top priority what the press and public didn't know
00:41:43
was that investigators had already set their sights on a promising person of interest
00:42:03
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you support case file to continue to deliver quality content 21 year old crime reporter john grant
00:45:30
worked at the same newspaper as easy street resident elona although the two colleagues weren't
00:45:36
particularly close they had gone out together on the night of monday january 11.
00:45:43
elona felt sorry for jon he'd been having a tough time lately there were some rumors circulating about him at
00:45:50
work and he had a difficult home life they ended up back at 149 easy street having drinks and playing pool in a
00:45:59
loner's lounge room until the early hours of the morning by 2 am it was too late for grant to
00:46:07
make his way home so he decided to sleep on the couch the next morning he got a lift to work
00:46:14
with alona two days later alona went next door where she discovered the bloodied bodies
00:46:21
of suzanne armstrong and susan bartlett when john grant was questioned by police
00:46:29
he maintained he hadn't heard anything next door on the night he slept at easy street
00:46:35
while this wasn't suspicious in and of itself there was something about john grant's presence in the neighborhood
00:46:41
that immediately raised a red flag eighteen months earlier a nineteen-year-old american woman named
00:46:50
julianne garcia soleil went missing from the flat she shared with her sister in north melbourne
00:46:57
on the night she disappeared julianne invited three men whom she had recently met over to her flat to discuss the
00:47:04
possibility of opening a restaurant the men claimed that julianne left at around 10 30 pm to make a phone call
00:47:13
from a public pay phone and never returned they eventually got sick of waiting and
00:47:20
decided to leave police weren't convinced of their story not only were several items missing from
00:47:29
the flat including 125 cash and a carving knife but a blood-soaked towel was also found and a pair of julianne's
00:47:39
underwear was on the floor furthermore one of the men who had visited julianne that night was a known
00:47:47
career criminal named joseph john power who had faced prior murder allegations one of the other men was john grant
00:48:01
[Music] grant was the kind of crime reporter who mingled with both police sources and
00:48:07
criminal contacts whatever it took to get a good story his gift of the gab and hard drinking
00:48:14
ways meant he could work both sides but this time his close connections with the
00:48:20
criminal world had left him in hot water grant claimed he had left julianne's house before the other two men
00:48:30
he remembered it specifically because he called his editor and asked for permission to take a taxi home that
00:48:36
could be reimbursed as a work expense police didn't necessarily think that grant was involved with the julianne's
00:48:44
disappearance they did however suspect that joseph john power had something to do with it
00:48:53
the problem was that power had recently made allegations of misconduct against victoria police after they accused him
00:49:01
of another murder and an inquiry into his complaint was currently underway because of this police were wary of
00:49:10
investigating him for julianne's disappearance and they didn't pursue the matter any further
00:49:18
john grant claimed it was an unfortunate coincidence that he was with the julianne on the night she disappeared
00:49:25
and next door to suzanne armstrong and sue bartlett on the night they were killed
00:49:31
police interrogated him for an entire day but he staunchly maintained his innocence
00:49:38
elona said she didn't hear grant get up or leave the house after he went to bed her flatmate janet was reading in bed
00:49:47
until 4am and didn't hear anything either when elona woke up the next morning grant had already showered and was
00:49:56
wearing the same clothes as the night before they were clean and dry with no visible
00:50:02
stains there was nothing unusual about his behavior that day or in the days following
00:50:11
although there was no evidence to suggest that john grant was involved with the easy street murders in any way
00:50:18
that didn't stop the speculation after all what were the chances that one crime reporter could be in the wrong
00:50:26
place at the wrong time on two separate occasions police also believed the easy street
00:50:33
killer had knowledge of forensic procedures which grant did given his line of work
00:50:41
furthermore both the easy street crime scene and julianne garcia-soleil's flat shared a similarity
00:50:48
the presence of a blood-soaked towel and a pair of women's underwear left on the
00:50:53
floor given grant's association with the joseph john power some wondered whether
00:51:01
it was possible that power had followed grant to easy street on january 11 for an unknown reason
00:51:09
maybe he'd caught a glimpse of suzanne armstrong in her front bedroom and acted on impulse
00:51:16
power was known to be a violent dangerous criminal and he was physically capable of overpowering two unsuspecting
00:51:23
women it was a bit of a far-fetched theory but every possibility had to be considered now that the investigation
00:51:32
wasn't shaping up to be as straightforward as initially anticipated the major hindrance was that nobody had
00:51:40
witnessed anything suspicious around 147 easy street on the night of the murders
00:51:47
or had they [Music] gladys coventry was a veteran of easy street having lived in number 145 since
00:51:58
1963. according to the book murder on easy street by helen thomas the elderly gladys made a habit of sitting in her
00:52:08
kitchen laid on summer nights to take advantage of the cool evening breeze tuesday january 11
00:52:16
1977 was no different but as gladys enjoyed the fresh air on that hot night she peered outside and
00:52:25
noticed something at number 147 her home was on the opposite side of the laneway to sue and suzanne's and from
00:52:34
her vantage point gladys could see directly into their kitchen there was a man standing at the sink
00:52:42
washing his hands repeatedly it also looked like he was scrubbing on a piece of clothing
00:52:49
gladys had never seen the man before or if she had she didn't recognize him she didn't think anything of it
00:52:59
after all her neighbours often had visitors and from the casual unhurried way the man moved about their house
00:53:06
nothing raised any alarm it was only when gladys heard about the murders several days later that she was
00:53:13
reminded of the sighting she approached a homicide detective to report what she had seen but he didn't
00:53:21
seem interested at the time the homicide squad had a reputation for being arrogant and it
00:53:29
wasn't until the case started to go cold that they realized that they might have
00:53:33
been too quick to dismiss gladys's siding detectives approached the elderly woman
00:53:40
again but she was offended that they didn't take her report seriously the first time
00:53:46
and she no longer wanted to speak to them detectives were so interested in the sighting that they even sent a doctor to
00:53:53
gladys's house under the guise that he was performing a welfare check in the hopes he could get her to talk
00:54:01
but there was no fooling gladys who quickly sensed that he was with the police the detectives realised that they had
00:54:10
missed their chance to get a description of the man gladys claims to have seen in
00:54:14
the kitchen of 147 but instead of persevering they accepted it and moved on had they taken gladys coventry's siding
00:54:24
seriously from the start they may have been able to get a physical description of the killer and an identity kid could
00:54:31
have been drawn but she wasn't the only neighbour who was overlooked by the police
00:54:42
21 year old peter sellers lived with his family at 139 easy street on the night of monday january 11 he had
00:54:51
a friend named ray stay over while the rest of his family were travelling interstate
00:54:57
according to the book murder on easy street at around 2 30 a.m both peter and ray thought they heard a front door
00:55:05
slamming moments later they heard what sounded like two-car door slamming before the
00:55:11
car quickly took off when police door knocked the area once the murders were discovered peter wasn't
00:55:19
home however his mother was there and she told them that her son had information that might be of interest
00:55:28
police took note of his name but never returned to ask peter what he had seen peter just assumed they weren't
00:55:36
interested so he didn't attempt to follow it up the failure to interview key witnesses
00:55:43
was just one problem in a long list of failures in the investigation one of the overriding issues was that
00:55:51
the case was overseen purely by the state homicide squad and collingwood's criminal investigation branch was never
00:55:58
brought in to assist had local police been involved their specialized knowledge of the area might
00:56:05
have led to more possible persons of interest it didn't help that days had already
00:56:12
passed before the crime scene was discovered this gave the perpetrator plenty of time
00:56:18
to dispose of evidence or flee melbourne secondly although the crime scene was secured as soon as officers descended on
00:56:27
the property things were done differently in the 70s police were free to move through the
00:56:34
crime scene without wearing any protective clothing one officer had even washed his hands in
00:56:40
the bathroom sink failure to maintain the integrity of the crime scene meant crucial evidence might
00:56:47
have been missed complicating matters further was the fact that several detectives seemed
00:56:54
convinced they already had their killer within sights many believed that john grant's
00:57:00
connection was too coincidental and it would be a matter of time before evidence linked him to the crime
00:57:09
others had the same feelings about barry woodard the man suzanne was dating at the time of her death
00:57:16
this tunnel vision meant that other persons of interest were potentially overlooked
00:57:24
during the short amount of time that sue bartlett and suzanne armstrong were living on easy street major construction
00:57:31
was taking place in the area not only was nearby hoddle street being widened in conjunction with the new
00:57:38
freeway but a new community health center was being built right behind the women's home
00:57:44
construction workers and other tradies were in and out of the site constantly was it possible that one of them had
00:57:52
glimpsed into the backyard of 147 easy street and caught sight of sue or suzanne lounging in their backyard
00:58:00
perhaps they'd taken an unhealthy interest in one or both of the women and returned to the property after dark
00:58:10
similarly concreting work had only recently been done outside of number 147 could one of these workers have peered
00:58:18
in through the front window taken note of suzanne and returned to approach her at the property later
00:58:27
many of these workers were employed short term and moved around often so with police chasing other avenues in
00:58:34
the early days of the investigation it would have been easy for any of them to fall through the cracks
00:58:42
on top of the lackluster investigation the armstrong and bartlett families weren't happy with how they were treated
00:58:49
by the authorities they were constantly chasing updates themselves rather than being kept in a
00:58:56
loop with how things were progressing suzanne's family was never even interviewed by police they had to make
00:59:04
their own appointment to go down to the station and provide information by july six months had passed and police
00:59:17
were no closer to making an arrest an inquest into the murders was held at the melbourne coroner's court but no new
00:59:26
evidence was presented the coroner concluded that susan armstrong and susan bartlett had been
00:59:33
brutally killed by an unknown person or persons and shed no light on who that person might be
00:59:41
suzanne's sister gale was given custody of young gregory and in december her family applied for victims of crime
00:59:48
compensation on gregory's behalf this was a standard payment of up to five thousand dollars issued by the
00:59:57
victorian crimes compensation tribunal for dependence of victims who were injured or murdered in a crime
01:00:05
in another blow to the armstrong family the tribunal rejected the application on
01:00:11
the basis that gregory was legally considered an illegitimate child because suzanne hadn't been married to his
01:00:18
father when word spread about the rejection the people of australia were outraged
01:00:27
they rallied behind gregory with the victorian premier announcing he'd make sure gregory received compensation even
01:00:34
if he had to change the laws to do it the following year the law was updated and gregory received five thousand
01:00:43
dollars compensation paid into a trust that he could access on his 18th birthday
01:00:51
the one-year anniversary of the murders passed with no breakthroughs in the case
01:00:56
despite a fifty thousand dollar reward for information being announced the public and investigators alike found
01:01:04
it difficult to believe that the perpetrator continued to go undetected surely there must have been something in
01:01:12
their behavior after the crime that tipped somebody off perhaps this person had been a heavy
01:01:19
drinker who avoided alcohol abruptly following the crime maybe their mental health had taken a
01:01:27
sudden downhill turn it was also hard to believe that someone would commit a crime so brutal and then
01:01:35
never reoffend [Music] suzanne's sister gail told the media we'll never really get over this until
01:01:45
the fellow is caught you walk around not knowing who did the murder it could be the bloke next door
01:01:55
one week later the armstrong family were again devastated when suzanne's father died from severe burns he had recently
01:02:02
sustained from battling a bushfire his was yet another life tragically lost within the armstrong and bartlett
01:02:11
families in the aftermath of susan's and sue's murders sue's father had a fatal heart attack
01:02:19
upon learning that his daughter had been killed the next day one of sue's aunts also had
01:02:25
a heart attack and passed away investigators kept an eye out for similar crimes that could potentially be
01:02:34
linked but easy street remained in a league of its own some thought the killer might have
01:02:41
already passed away perhaps by suicide or had been jailed for an unrelated offense
01:02:49
with no new information and other cases demanding attention the case went cold cursed by its reputation as the murder
01:02:59
house number 147 easy street remained empty for six years as still and silent as the investigation itself
01:03:11
the house eventually sold at a discounted price and the new owner renovated it extensively tearing out the
01:03:18
old wooden floorboards decades after the double homicide the case was reopened the new detectives casting their eyes on
01:03:30
it for the first time were expecting to have boxes of information to sift through
01:03:36
however when they asked for the documents all they were given was a skinny manila folder containing a few
01:03:42
flimsy statements by the late 90s forensic technology had improved dramatically and cold cases
01:03:51
were starting to be solved using dna victoria police were hopeful these advances would reveal the identity of
01:04:00
the easy street killer once and for all there were still eight key suspects on their list including barry woodard and
01:04:09
john grant and each one of them agreed to provide a blood sample dna from their blood was tested against
01:04:17
the semen of the killer none were a match this outcome was a major blow for years investigators and the
01:04:30
armstrong and bartlett families had held out hope that dna would be the clue that
01:04:35
finally held the answers new leads had long since dried up and now that the physical evidence
01:04:42
eliminated the major persons of interest it seemed increasingly unlikely that the
01:04:48
case would ever be solved then in september 1999 a postcard arrived at various media outlets across
01:04:58
the city postmarked from the town of bright in northeast victoria the writer of the
01:05:08
postcards claimed to know who was responsible for the murders the cards were forwarded to the homicide
01:05:15
squad who wrote them off as a hoax then in early 2004 a series of letters arrived at the home of suzanne
01:05:25
armstrong's mother and stepfather written in scrolling cursive they were from the same person who'd authored the
01:05:33
postcards four and a half years earlier his name was peter collier and he openly
01:05:40
criticized the police for not taking his previous claims seriously as reported in the book murder on easy
01:05:49
street peter had been a patient at melbourne's la rundle psychiatric hospital in early 1977.
01:05:57
in late january his friend 30 year old anthony thomas christie was also admitted after attempting to end his own
01:06:05
life christy spent 10 days in a coma before regaining consciousness three weeks later peter was sitting in a
01:06:15
group therapy session with seven other patients including christy when christy made a startling revelation
01:06:25
after having sex with women he felt an overwhelming desire to kill them with a carving knife
01:06:33
peter was stunned he started to put two and two together he knew christy had a criminal past and
01:06:43
the timing of the suicide attempt had him questioning whether christie could have committed the easy street murders
01:06:49
and then tried to take his own life because of it in one of the letters to suzanne's
01:06:57
family peter wrote this is only guesswork but i knew christy and it's the only thing that
01:07:05
makes sense to me i don't believe for a moment that suzanne was raped it's possible but highly improbable
01:07:14
if you're capable of butchering two women you're capable of making out that one of them was raped
01:07:20
a far more likely scenario is that suzanne and christy were involved in pillow talk
01:07:26
he's told suzanne that he's killed a couple of crims he'd hinted that to me the women have decided to get rid of
01:07:35
christy and they have threatened him with the police he's lost control they're dead what would have made him
01:07:43
lose control he's hatred for the police peter explained that he didn't speak up at the time because he was suffering
01:07:54
from poor mental health himself he couldn't believe that the staff at larundel had failed to pass the
01:08:00
information on to the relevant authorities it haunted him to this day bolstered by the fact that christie had
01:08:08
since passed away without facing any consequences in another letter peter wrote there is one way to get the truth out
01:08:19
and that is to put it out on the internet that anthony thomas christie is the easy street killer
01:08:26
that would put some pressure on the creeps covering up the truth suzanne's family reported the
01:08:35
information to police who dismissed peter collier's theory apparently this wasn't the first time
01:08:42
he'd made these kinds of claims to bereaved family members it wouldn't be the last time either
01:08:51
in november 2005 easy street was a buzz when several residents found a letter in
01:08:57
their mailboxes from peter written in black textile in all capitals it read larundel hospital protected anthony
01:09:08
thomas christie for the easy street murders for years [Music] while it was clear that peter had an
01:09:15
ongoing fixation with the case there was no evidence to back his claims although if the killer was being held in
01:09:24
a mental health facility that would explain why no similar crimes were committed after susan armstrong and sue
01:09:31
bartlett's murders that's one element that continues to baffle investigators it just didn't seem plausible that
01:09:40
someone could commit such an extreme brutal murder then go on to live a normal life without ever killing again
01:09:52
by january 2017 four decades had passed and police were still no closer to making an arrest
01:10:01
if anyone other than the killer knew who was responsible they had either taken their secret to the grave or continued
01:10:08
to live with the knowledge in the hopes of enticing someone to talk victoria police announced a 1 million
01:10:17
reward for information as well as possible indemnity against prosecution for anyone who came forward
01:10:26
a police spokesperson said we believe after 40 years someone out there knows something and it is time for
01:10:34
them to come forward these unsolved murders have been extremely devastating on these two young
01:10:41
women's families and after all this time we would like to provide them with closure
01:10:49
for susan armstrong's family it was too little too late suzanne's sister gail was still
01:10:56
disappointed about the way the case was handled from the get-go but she was grateful that the investigation was
01:11:03
still active after all these years she told reporters this reward should have been offered 39
01:11:11
years ago and it'd be solved and we wouldn't be doing all this now i hear the miracles that police do solve
01:11:20
cases and i think suzanne will be next they will do it they will find this person
01:11:29
there were still 130 persons of interest on the list and a team was tasked with going through each individual in a bid
01:11:37
to eliminate them once and for all this was no easy task given how much time had passed 41 of
01:11:46
those individuals had since passed away while others had relocated or changed addresses
01:11:54
those who were able to be tracked down were encouraged to submit a voluntary dna sample
01:12:01
the original eight suspects who had previously been cleared by dna were also retested
01:12:09
once again there were no matches despite the age of the dna evidence it still holds the key to solving the easy
01:12:19
street murders investigators in victoria haven't yet turned to genealogy testing to solve
01:12:27
cold cases but hope remains that the perpetrator could finally be identified via an ancestral link
01:12:36
veteran journalist tess lawrence who visited easy street as family members packed up suzanne and sue's belongings
01:12:44
has never revealed the name of the record that was on the turntable in the living room at the time of the murders
01:12:51
she has this information safely stored away on the off chance that might ever be useful to the investigation
01:13:03
collingwood today is not the suburb it was back in the 1970s it's now considered one of melbourne's
01:13:09
hippest areas the old terrace homes remain but the warehouses that once defined the area
01:13:17
have since been converted into trendy offices bars and cafes with its neighboring house having since
01:13:25
been demolished number 147 easy street now stands alone the house has changed hands multiple
01:13:33
times over the years when it sold in 2011 the real estate agent responsible for the sale found
01:13:41
themselves in hot water after describing the house in their marketing campaign as
01:13:46
part of melbourne's folklore a spokesperson for victim advocate group support after murder described this
01:13:55
campaign as absolutely disgusting and accused the real estate agent of trying to capitalise on the tragedy
01:14:02
[Music] in their defense the agent claimed they were just trying to fulfill disclosure
01:14:08
requirements as discreetly as possible at the time victorian law dictated that real estate agents only had to tell a
01:14:17
prospective buyer about any violent crimes that occurred in a property if they were asked
01:14:24
since then the laws have changed so that agents must disclose these details no matter what
01:14:32
in 2017 147 easy street sold again the real estate ad described the house as quote
01:14:41
enjoying a revitalized identity with a contemporary makeover while retaining its period lustre
01:14:51
for years after susan and sue were killed curious onlookers drove down easy street wanting to catch a glimpse of the
01:14:58
infamous murder house teenagers would hang out of car windows while pointing and laughing which upset
01:15:05
the local residents who continued to be haunted by the crime the notoriety of the gruesome crime
01:15:12
itself often overshadows the fact that at the heart of the tragedy two innocent young women lost their lives in the most
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brutal way imaginable and their loved ones never received the closure they desperately soared
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sue bartlett was well liked with both students and colleagues at the inner city high school where she worked
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dedicated to her job she always went the extra mile to organize out of hours events for the kids such as school
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dances and other activities if a faculty member was leaving sue was the one who hustled farms to buy them a
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farewell gift in the wake of the murders a former co-worker of sues rallied to raise funds
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in susana the money was used to buy a painting of the australian bush which hangs on the
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wall of the high school in memory of the popular and dedicated teacher the co-worker remarked
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everyone loved sue she was almost larger than life when suzanne armstrong's son gregory
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turned 18 he was finally able to access the 5 000 compensation payment that had been put into a trust
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the money had been invested wisely and by the time gregory accessed it it was worth almost twenty seven thousand
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dollars he used it to complete his education gregory doesn't speak publicly about his
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mother's murder but in 1996 he formed a friendship with crime writer tom pryor who penned a book about the case titled
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they trusted man speaking to tom gregory said everyone loses out on something i've lost out because my mother was
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murdered it has taken me a long time to realize how much i missed her from all accounts the last thing my
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mother could be described as was ordinary i miss her i wish i could meet my mother again
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even just once suzanne's vibrant inquisitive personality is forever captured in the
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letters she wrote to friends and family during her travels while visiting florida in 1973
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she wrote to a friend back in melbourne i think there are basically two ways to live your life yours at home and mine
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neither is really satisfactory 100 it is just what you make of it happiness can only really come from
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inside you and you have to know people i haven't found such happiness but i am getting to know myself and that is an
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interesting experience life is really crazy but i do believe there is a purpose to everything
01:18:16
whatever it is i can't say but i suppose i will find out soon enough [Music] [Music]
01:18:47
in 2016 case file covered the disappearance of 22 year old shawno callahan all you can see is headlights
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of a car flashing it's blatantly obvious that she got in that car whoever had taken her had done it for criminal
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purposes now hear firsthand from loved ones and lead investigator steve bulger as we unravel how the case unfolded and
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the minefield of legal and ethical dilemmas encountered along the way therefore there's only one way to do
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this it was at that point that steve fortune decided to take an extraordinary gamble her life is my responsibility all
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i could do was plead with him for her life when a killer confesses do you listen he said you and i should
01:19:34
have a chat the fact of his guilt was unequivocal but what if one interpretation of the
01:19:41
law says you shouldn't accept the confession when he got taken to swindon he got a
01:19:47
lawyer all that conversation those vital confessions disappeared of no value what they were
01:19:54
doing what were they doing what happens to the cop who believes he's making the right choice the whole reason we were
01:20:02
there was losing sight what was wrong in getting a confession from a murderer it obviously rehearsed
01:20:11
this line that you ended with which was it was a pleasure to ruin your career you corrupt bastard if it had been your
01:20:18
loved one steve bulger was looking for what would you have wanted him to do to crucify somebody
01:20:26
for trying his best to get closure for two families doesn't make a lot of sense case file presents the detective's
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dilemma available for free on march 14 only on spotify [Music] you