A 17-year-old accused in a 1977 double murder in Melbourne faces trial after a DNA match linked him to evidence collected in 2018.

In 1977, Suzanne Armstrong, 28, and Susan Bartlett, 27, were found murdered in their Melbourne home, with Armstrong showing signs of rape and 29 stab wounds, and Bartlett suffering 55 stab wounds. Perry Kouroumblis, then 17, is accused based on a DNA match from evidence collected in 2018—blood, semen, and a towel—linking him with a 100 billion to one probability. Prosecutors say he gave conflicting accounts of obtaining a knife found in his vehicle and fled to Greece after refusing a 2017 DNA test. His defense challenges the admissibility of the decades-old evidence and claims police in 1977 focused on another suspect. The committal hearing continues.