How cops played a waiting game for the suspected Easey Street double murderer - before an elaborate sting operation finally brought him out of his safe haven after decades on the run

Detectives tasked with solving the brutal 1977 murders of two women may have lured the accused killer from his safe haven in Greece through a clever deception.

Perry Kouroumblis was just 17 when Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett, 28, were found dead in their shared Easey St home in Collingwood on January 13, 1977.

Now 65, Kouroumblis was arrested on Thursday over the killings that shocked Australia at Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Rome, Italy.

Police sources told Daily Mail Australia they suspected Victorian detectives may have tricked the alleged killer into leaving Greece, where he had dual citizenship with Australia.

“It’s actually a pretty smart idea because it would have been almost impossible to extradite him from Greece,” one source said.

Australia shares a healthy extradition treaty with Italy, which ensures that Kouroumblis’ Greek nationality will not prevent his return to Melbourne.

But he was effectively untouchable while in Greece, as local laws meant he could not be extradited after 47 years of murder hunting.

Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the law school, said the alleged killer probably would never have been caught if he had remained in Greece.

The Easey Street murders turned Melbourne into a city of fear in the 1970s, when people knew their neighbours and left their front doors wide open at night.

Perry Kouroumblis (pictured) was arrested at Leonardo Da Vinci airport in the Italian capital Rome over the killings that shocked Australia

“It would appear that the individual had some level of immunity while in Greece,” he told the ABC.

“There are now two distinguishing factors here: one is… a possible problem related to the historical nature of these crimes and, indeed, a statute of limitations, which might have been relevant in terms of Greek extradition law.

“But the other information we have is that the individual in question is a Greek (Australian) citizen.

“Some countries are even very reluctant to extradite their own nationals. So these are two distinctive aspects that are no longer in play today.”

Last year, Australian detectives were suspected of luring a man to Australia for US detectives so they could extradite him.

Former US pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan had been given security clearance to obtain an aviation licence and return from China to work in Australia in 2022.

A few days after his arrival, his security clearance with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation was withdrawn and he was arrested.

The former marine had been accused of illegally aiding China by training pilots for the state government’s military.

In May, a New South Wales court ruled he was eligible for surrender to the United States and ordered the father of six to be jailed.

Life in 1977 was very different. Detectives are pictured outside the Easey Street house where two people were murdered

Suzanne Armstrong (pictured) was murdered in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood in 1977.

Susan Bartlett (left) and Suzanne Armstrong (right) were murdered in their Easey Street home in Collingwood in 1977

AUSTRALIA WAS A DIFFERENT PLACE IN 1977

Back then, it was not uncommon to leave the curtains open at night and leave the front door unlocked.

People knew their neighbors and brutal murders of women were very rare.

Unsubstantiated information not only delayed and distracted detectives, but also wrongly implicated dozens of men, including the late racing legend Peter Brock and a former newspaper journalist.

Media reports at the time repeatedly described Mrs Armstrong as a “single mother” while the couple were also described as “party girls”.

Former homicide detective Peter Hiscock questioned whether the investigation might have gone differently if the women had not been single.

“It was a different time and most people were very relaxed about security around the home. It was a time when you knew your neighbours and this type of crime rarely happened,” he told The Age newspaper in March.

“There were all kinds of reports coming in, and most of them were unfounded or just rumors. But you have to remember that at the time there were no surveillance cameras, no DNA evidence and no databases for fingerprints.”

In 1999, British police They set a trap for 80 suspected criminals by sending them letters saying they had won valuable electrical goods.

Dubbed “Operation Bastille,” the operation led to the arrest of 38 people wanted for failing to appear for arrest warrants in connection with alleged offenses.

The “prey” were asked to call a toll-free winners’ hotline and confirm that they would be home on the day of their prizes.

Unaware of the closing trap, nearly three-quarters of the people rang the secret operations room, The Guardian reported at the time.

“We left the details of the prize to their imagination,” Detective Bruce Ballagher said.

“People were so greedy that some were so excited they tried to stop the clandestine delivery vans before we arrived at their address.”

On Sunday, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said he did not know why Kouroumblis made the mistake of leaving his shelter.

“As I understand it, there is a 20-year statute of limitations for bringing murder charges (in Greece).

“Our arrest warrant was not issued within the 20-year period and so we had to wait, if you like, until he was out of Greece,” he told reporters.

“I don’t know why the suspect was in Italy, or in transit to Rome.

“All I know is that thanks to the arrest warrants and the collaboration with Interpol, the red notice worked.”

The Interpol red notice that triggered the suspect’s arrest in Italy included two counts of murder and one count of rape.

Mr Patton described the killings as “an absolutely gruesome, gruesome, frenzied homicide”.

He said technological advances, investigative techniques and the return of statements had contributed to the progress.

Neighbours raised the alarm after hearing a child crying inside the house

A newspaper article about the Easey Street deaths in 1977

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton (pictured) described the killings as “an absolutely horrific, horrific, frenzied homicide”.

“This is the most serious and longest running unsolved case we have ever solved in Victoria, and that is why it is such a significant achievement,” the Chief Commissioner said.

“There is simply no expiration date on crimes as brutal as this.”

On Monday, police refused to deny speculation that they were involved in Kouroumblis’s abduction outside Greece and declined to comment on the case.

Mrs Armstrong and Mrs Bartlett were last seen alive on January 10, 1977, and their bodies were found three days later.

At the time, Kouroumblis was living in Bendigo St, Collingwood, near the house where Ms Armstrong and Ms Bartlett were killed in what became known as the “Easey Street murders”.

On Sunday, it was revealed that the then teenager was arrested by a young police officer who found a knife in the trunk of his car, which had traces of the same blood type as one of the victims.

But when questioned, he claimed to have found the weapon on nearby railway tracks, a claim police initially accepted.