A million-dollar reward is on offer for information that helps solve the 1980 cold case of Maria James.
The single mother was murdered in a frenzied stabbing in the bedroom of her home, at the back of her bookshop on High Street in Thornbury in Melbourne’s north.
Her sons, Mark and Adam James, are hoping the reward draws out the person who could finally solve their mother’s case.
“It’s really our last chance to motivate somebody to do the right thing,” Mark James said.
“Don’t hold it in anymore, don’t hold back … please come forward … bring us some peace.”
Mark and Adam James were just 13 and 11 years old respectively when their mother was stabbed 68 times.
“Every time I think about her I can’t help but think of the brutal and violent way that she was murdered, the ritualistic, heinous way she was killed,” Mark James said.
The day she was killed, Ms James was set to confront a local Catholic priest, Father Anthony Bongiorno, about the sexual abuse of her younger son Adam.
“My mum never stopped loving us, she would do everything in her power to keep us safe … me and Mark will never stop fighting this,” Adam James said.
Adam James says he was abused by both Fr Bongiorno and Fr Thomas O’Keeffe, who ran St Mary’s Parish, a few doors down from Ms James’s bookshop.
The church later admitted and apologised for Fr Bongiorno’s abuse. Both priests have now died.
Around the time of the murder, Fr Bongiorno was seen covered in blood.
The detective running the cold case, Detective Senior Constable Leigh Prados, said he believed there were people still alive today who had relevant information.
“The most critical witnesses in my assessment would be people who were in or about 736 High Street on the 17th of June 1980 at around midday,” he said.
“It was busy at that time of day, I know how many people have come forward so far and I firmly believe there are people out there … who could help in this case.”
Victoria Police head of homicide Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said any tiny detail could help.
“It doesn’t matter how minor they think it may be … it might be that piece of the puzzle that investigators need to be able to solve this horrific murder,” he said.
Murder investigation hampered by missing evidence
Revelations about certain suspects and exhibit bungles, broadcast in the ABC’s Trace podcast, helped spark a new coronial inquest for Maria James in 2021.
But the finding — that Ms James was killed by an unknown person — was the very same that was handed down in 1982.
The murder investigation was crippled by a litany of errors.
Early on, Ms James’s bloodied clothes and pillow slips disappeared from police storage.
Then, most likely between 1994 and 1999, a pillow from an unrelated crime scene was put with Ms James’s exhibits.
It was this rogue pillow that yielded a DNA profile, which detectives mistakenly believed was the killer’s, which they used to — wrongly — rule out suspects, over 14 years.
Mark James said he had long wondered whether these were mistakes, or a cover-up.
“Somehow all of that stuff is gone and there’s no destruction records,” he said.
“In every other situation where something was destroyed because it could have been a biohazard, there was a record of destruction.
“They [police] are very meticulous. But in my mum’s case, this stuff has just disappeared.
“While I’ve got confidence in the police of today, and in [former detective] Ron Iddles who’s been a great support, I just think something may have gone on 44 years ago.”
Detective Inspector Thomas said he had not found any evidence of corruption.
“What happened with those exhibits … is extremely unfortunate. I wish it hadn’t happened,” he said.
“But there is nothing we’ve found to suggest that it was by design, or through any corrupt activity of any members involved in the investigation.”
When delivering her recommendations from the 2021 coronial inquest, Deputy State Coroner Caitlin English directed police to do a thorough search of its exhibits, saying it was the “minimum Victoria Police should do”.
Detective Senior Constable Prados said the search of police holdings continued, as did investigation into the late Fathers Bongiorno and O’Keeffe, and the late killer, Peter Keogh — who was convicted over the 1987 stabbing death of his ex partner Vicki Cleary.
Senior Constable Prados said DNA testing had also been done on hairs found on Ms James’ bed quilt, but for now, results were inconclusive.
As DNA technology evolves, further testing will be possible on the quilt and also on the twine that bound Ms James’s hands.
“Frustratingly, science doesn’t exist today that can take that further,” Senior Constable Prados said.
“But I can promise you, this exhibit [the twine], is going to be retained and protected fiercely, in the expectation and hope that one day we can get something from it.”
Mark James said he believed it would be the community, rather than science, that solves the case.
“For the foreseeable future, there’s nothing going to come out about DNA, so it’s really up to the public coming forward,” he said.
“My brother grew up without a mum and I grew up without a mum. We just want an answer, we just want closure.”
Adam James echoed his brother’s plea for people with information to come forward.
“Whatever detail you could think of, would be most helpful for us,” he said.
Anyone with information should contact their local police station or call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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