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The latest episode of Casefile Presents: The Easey Street Murders zooms in on the chief person of interest in the 1977 double homicide case, and pinpoints exactly how "chilling coincidences" led police to the wrong suspect multiple times. But, before we dive into the questionable detective work of the 1970's we must understand intricacies about the plot. Per Casefile Presents: The Easey Street Murders, the case began "forty six years ago, on a warm summer night in Melbourne." The summary continues on to name the Collingwood-based victims, and to detail how they were murdered.
"Susan Bartlett and Suzanne Armstrong were stabbed to death in their home in Easey Street, Collingwood. Suzanne's 16 month-old son was asleep in the cot at this time."
Journalist Helen Thomas has spent years researching the case, and is the very backbone of this thrilling iHeartRadio series. In the second episode, Thomas interviewed family and friends of the victims who described the "two Sues" as "vibrant, engaging women in their 20s" with a love for travel. The third episode took a closer look into the lives of three specific witnesses. The case went without a witness for decades because police didn't attempt to question next door neighbors or locals who could have been in contact with the women in the days leading up to their deaths.
In the latest episode, we discover that eight persons of interest were involved in the initial case, a few of which were only "of interest" because of coincidence rather than actual evidence. Overtime, 35 people were DNA tested along with evidence encompassing "blood stained towels, bed sheets, a carpet square, hair" and nail samples. Only one piece of evidence came back with necessary information. The small piece of carpet taken from the women's apartment was "stained with semen."
Australian journalist and author Andrew Rule spoke to Thomas about the case, commenting on why so much of the investigation was overlook and did not get the attention it so desperately required for years. Speaking on the brain-power behind the police force, Rule shared:
"It was composed largely of not really well educated or very sophisticated men who had joined the police force probably fairly young. Their values and attitudes were s***, and they were probably lagging behind some elements of society in their attitudes. And all of that meant that when you had two young women in a house in Collingwood who had a lot of male visitors...there would be a total tendency by a lot of those people to regard the victims more so as second rate or not worthy of as much consideration as if it was the governors wife and daughter."
He continued:
"Mind you, that's human nature. That applies today. But it was more pronounced then than it is today I think."
Tune in to the next episode for a deeper look into the case via Casefile Presents: The Easey Street Murders on iHeartRadio.