'Now or never': Police offer $1M reward to solve 1981 cold case sex assault and murder
A rare $1 million reward is being offered to help solve the 1981 cold case sex assault and murder of a 25-year-old Melbourne woman.
Haroula Kipouridou's body was discovered in a jammed lift about 2.30am on July 3, 1981, about 30 minutes after work friends dropped her to her mother's home in Richmond's commission flats.
Detective acting Sergeant Leigh Prados said the young singer had been bashed, strangled and left on the floor semi-naked.
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Haroula Kipouridou was working as a singer at a Greek tavern at the time of her murder. Nine
"She had been violently attacked – whoever did this did it with a high level of brutality," Prados said today.
The cold case detective is determined to solve the 45-year-old cold case for Kipouridou's siblings, who are desperate for answers.
"The people who are left behind, who loved Haroula, that's why we do it," Prados said.
It's one of several cases police are confident they'll be able to solve.
"We have families out there who have lost loved ones who expect and want to know their investigations is still being looked at," Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said.
Several suspects have been interviewed and police are not ruling out links to other similar crimes of the era.
But time is of the essence.
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Detective Acting Sergeant Leigh Prados is determined to solve the 45-year-old cold case for Kipouridou's siblings, who are desperate for answers. Nine
"It's an appeal to a person's conscience that after 45 years as people get older and we approach our own inevitable end, there may be witnesses who need to reflect on things they know, they saw, they heard or they were told, and to please come forward," Prados said.
"It really is a case of now or never."
The 25-year-old was engaged and working as a singer at a Greek tavern on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy at the time of her murder.
While the business no longer exists, investigators are hoping members of the public can cast their minds back to 1981, urging anyone who interacted with her on the night of her death to come forward.
"We will never, ever, stop trying to find you," Prados said.
"We will keep looking for you, try to hold you responsible for what you did."
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