The Maria James murder - The Trace

[Flash of power]

Have recently been listening to the podcast from the ABC about the murder of Maria James in Melbourne in the early 80's, stabbed 68 times in her own home.

Catholic church seems to be involved in this case up to their eyeballs, pedaphilia likely the root cause and dna samples mixed up at the time. Intriguing to say the least.

It has been a fascinating listen, and hopefully some new dna will lead to something more concrete about the killer, potentially a catholic priest, or even two were involved.

Was there much hype about this murder at the time?

I have never heard of it, but not being from Melbourne maybe it didn't get much interstate coverage.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-21/trace-the-unsolved-murder-of-maria-james/8612964

 

[mrsbeard]

I read about the case a while ago stating that the key piece of evidence was a bloodied pillowcase. I thought it was strange that they were using a pillowcase to rule out suspects but no mention of a pillowcase was mentioned in crime scene descriptions in the news but I also thought "well I can't assume anything, I don't know the case nor all the available evidence".

It does raise questions and implications though. If it was evidence from another crime scene, what case was that? Has that case been solved? Could this piece of evidence been instrumental in that case? Has there been other evidence mix ups? Could anyone have been wrongly convicted because of this?

Apparently it occured prior to 2001. I assume procedures have changed even in the last 5-10 years.

 

[Flash of power]

I read about the case a while ago stating that the key piece of evidence was a bloodied pillowcase. I thought it was strange that they were using a pillowcase to rule out suspects but no mention of a pillowcase was mentioned in crime scene descriptions in the news but I also thought "well I can't assume anything, I don't know the case nor all the available evidence".

It does raise questions and implications though. If it was evidence from another crime scene, what case was that? Has that case been solved? Could this piece of evidence been instrumental in that case? Has there been other evidence mix ups? Could anyone have been wrongly convicted because of this?

Apparently it occured prior to 2001. I assume procedures have changed even in the last 5-10 years.

It raises a LOT of questions as you suggest. This was early 80's so DNA not a big factor back then, I agree with you though, surely the cops that were on the scene, collected evidence, witness statements etc would have known that the pillow case was not from the scene.

Is it possible that there was a cop covering up for the priests that could have been involved?

Or is it simply a mix up and with fresh eyes looking at this case, new ways of thinking, and dna testing is challenging the work of past cops.

I think more will come out in the near future in relation to this case.

 

[Kynge of Begrem]

its a very good podcast

 

[MaddAdam]

Great work by Rachel Clarke. Sure, was a vintage year for journos at RMIT that year, her, Nick McKenzie, me.

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

Great work by Rachel Clarke. Sure, was a vintage year for journos at RMIT that year, her, Nick McKenzie, me.

Hutchy, Pickers, Doc!!!

What are the odds for MaddAdam?

 

[MaddAdam]

Hutchy, Pickers, Doc!!!

What are the odds for MaddAdam?

I was being slightly self deprecating you know. And for the record, if it was in third person I would have said:

"Great work by Rachel Clarke. Sure, was a vintage year for journos at RMIT that year, her, Nick McKenzie, MaddAdam".

Or maybe even tagged in Bunk Moreland so he could use my real name.

 

[MaddAdam]

Liam Cochrane who now does ABC stuff out of South East Asia another one from the RMIT 1999 super draft.

As is my old boss in Brussels, Jack Barton.

http://english.cctv.com/opinion/correspondent/jackbarton/index.shtml

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I was being slightly self deprecating you know. And for the record, if it was in third person I would have said:

"Great work by Rachel Clarke. Sure, was a vintage year for journos at RMIT that year, her, Nick McKenzie, MaddAdam".

Or maybe even tagged in Bunk Moreland so he could use my real name.

lol

I'll leave it to you to publish your name if and when you'd like to

 

[MaddAdam]

lol

I'll leave it to you to publish your name if and when you'd like to

Come now, why so coy, you've used it - well, my first name - heaps of times here.

 

[Duritz]

Come now, why so coy, you've used it - well, my first name - heaps of times here.

Are you Adam Gilchrist?

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

Are you Adam Gilchrist?

Nah, Margaret Attwood.

I was being slightly self deprecating you know. And for the record, if it was in third person I would have said:

"Great work by Rachel Clarke. Sure, was a vintage year for journos at RMIT that year, her, Nick McKenzie, MaddAdam".

Or maybe even tagged in Bunk Moreland so he could use my real name.

Err, yep.

More a pedant than a self congratulator was my guess

 

[red+black]

https://www.wheelercentre.com/events/invasion-of-the-pod-people-trace

 

[Kurve]

So inefficient it's third world.

After a series of discoveries made by the ABC's true-crime podcast Trace, a new coronial inquest was announced.

But that was two years ago, and still the James brothers and the Coroners Court are waiting on Victoria Police to provide a brief of evidence.

'Enough is enough': Two years after the inquest into Maria James's death was called, it's yet to get started

A Victorian coroner has given police until March to finalise its brief of evidence on the murder of Maria James in her Melbourne bookshop in 1980. The inquest was announced two years ago, following a series of discoveries by the ABC's true crime podcast Trace.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Kurve]

Good news. Missing evidence has been found!

A blood-stained bed quilt could help to crack open the murder cold case of Maria James, which has remained unsolved for 41 years.

Missing evidence from the murder scene of Maria James has been found, after being thought lost forever

Crucial exhibits from the murder of Maria James, which could have been used for DNA testing, were thought to have been missing for up to three decades. The Trace podcast can reveal one of them has been found.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Flash of power]

Good news. Missing evidence has been found!

A blood-stained bed quilt could help to crack open the murder cold case of Maria James, which has remained unsolved for 41 years.

Missing evidence from the murder scene of Maria James has been found, after being thought lost forever

Crucial exhibits from the murder of Maria James, which could have been used for DNA testing, were thought to have been missing for up to three decades. The Trace podcast can reveal one of them has been found.

www.abc.net.au

How does that just turn up now after all this time?

 

[Kurve]

How does that just turn up now after all this time?

Might be a bit like evidence in the Claremont serial killings was misfiled and sat there for decades before someone noticed it.

 

[Flash of power]

Might be a bit like evidence in the Claremont serial killings was misfiled and sat there for decades before someone noticed it.

Begs the question what were those cowboys doing back then, hopefully it brings a resolution though

 

[Kurve]

First week of the inquest.

Former detective describes priest trying to enter the crime scene
Earlier, the priest had tried to barge his way into the crime scene.

Former detective Cliff Hall said the priest was adamant he needed to administer last rites to Maria James.

"It was pretty heated, he insisted on getting in … he was trying to push past me … reasonable amount of force … on both sides … I had to push him away to keep him out."

'My legs went to jelly': Mark learned his mother had been murdered. The man who told him is a person of interest

An inquest into the unsolved murder of Maria James hears evidence about a priest who tried to force his way into the crime scene and a witness who was hypnotised.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Kurve]

After arriving at the Rossmoyne Street property, he said a short, stocky man dressed in black except for a religious collar walked across some grass near him.

“He had a sleeve pushed up high on the forearm, blood on both hands, and he had blood up near his ear and on the side of his neck,” Hircoe told the Victorian coroners court. He said the blood “looked fresh” but he could not see a wound.

When the electrician asked if he was alright and “what he did”, the man told him he had cut himself on either some roses in the garden or on a fence, but Hircoe could not remember which.

“I said I had a first aid kit in the car, ‘Stay there and I’ll get you cleaned up’,” he said. “I walked back to get the first aid kit, I turned around to look at him again and there was nobody there, he had disappeared.”

He then heard a woman speaking in Italian with a “raised, urgent” voice from inside the presbytery. “It went on for 15 seconds, almost screaming level,” he said.

Shown a photo of one of six suspects named in the inquest, Hircoe told the court the man he saw that day was Catholic priest Anthony Bongiorno.

Priest with ‘blood on both hands’ seen near Maria James murder site in Melbourne in 1980, inquest told

Electrician Allan Hircoe tells hearing seeing Father Anthony Bongiorno that day has remained clear in his mind for four decades

www.theguardian.com

 

[Catoggio76]

Is this inquest still going? The Priest Bongiorno also knew Gina Rosatto who was killed in Thornbury in 1982