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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Steve Evans

The five unsolved Canberra murders police are still investigating

The police in Canberra are still investigating five unsolved murders.

They have arrested 68-year-old Melbourne man Steve Fabriczy and accused him of the sixth unsolved murder, the vicious bashing of Canberra grandmother Irma Palasics.

He is set to be extradited to Canberra in the coming days.

But the ACT Policing Homicide Team continues to review the other cases, particularly as forensic science makes new advances in technology which open previously closed avenues of investigation.

The other five under active investigation are:

The body of 23-three-year-old Kathryn Grosvenor was found by a canoeist in Yarralumla Bay on March 9, 2002. It had been weighed down by a concrete bollard which had originated from Anthony Rolfe Drive in Gungahlin.

She had last been seen alive five days earlier at her home in Nicholls. Her mother had spoken to her on the phone that day at around 7.50pm.

There were two unconfirmed sightings in the Gold Creek area on the night she went missing, including a sighting at the George Harcourt Inn in Nicholls where she was thought to have bought cigarettes just after 9pm.

Kathryn Grosvenor. Picture: supplied

In 2002, a witness came forward with information that a man was seen stopped on the side of Anthony Rolfe Avenue, near the roundabout at the time. The witness saw this person place an item in the boot of a vehicle.

The police said the car was red and similar to an early 1980s model Toyota Corolla sedan.

Six-year-old Allen Redston was found dead next to a creek bed in Curtin on September 28, 1966. His hands and feet were bound. His body had been wrapped in carpet and a green and white dressing gown. He had been strangled.

He had disappeared while waiting outside a friend's house in Holman Street, Curtin the day before.

Violet and Brian Redston with a 1960's photograph of three of their four children, Anne, Peter and Allen (far right). Picture by Graham Tidy

His mother had sent him to buy an ice cream for himself and his brother from the local shops. After sending his brother home, he walked to a friend's house and planned to spend the afternoon playing at the Curtin tip. The lad decided to wait outside his friend's house but after a short time left the area. He was described as an adventurous and inquisitive boy.

The following day his body was found among reeds near Dry and Service streets, Curtin.

Police believe his body was moved there after he was murdered.

The dressing gown in which Allen's body was wrapped was later identified as belonging to a local resident. It had been left, along with other rubbish, in a nearby builders' dump.

In 2003, detectives interviewed several people in Queensland about the death. Detectives named a man as a suspect but were unable to establish a link between him and the murder.

In 2004, detectives launched an appeal to renew contact with two people whom investigators are convinced have information about Allen's murder.

Frank Campbell. Picture: supplied

The body of Frank Campbell was discovered in his unit on Wilkins Street in Mawson at around 3am on May 2, 2005.

He had been bludgeoned to death. Pathologists reckoned he had been hit 11 times on the head with a blunt object.

On the night of his murder - Sunday, May 1 - he was recorded by CCTV cameras drinking at the Mawson Club with his flatmate. Frank left the club at 9.43pm and walked home to his unit.

His flat mate last saw him alive at their home just before midnight.

The police said they were looking for items of clothing - a long sleeved dark checked shirt, a pair of blue jeans and work boots - a frypan and a small sum of cash which was taken from the house at the time of the murder.

Keren Rowland. Picture: supplied

Twenty-year-old Keren Rowland was 20 when she went missing on February 26, 1971, the night of the Royal Canberra Show.

She had gone to Civic to pick up her sister and go to a party in Deakin, but her sister then got a lift with her fiancé. The idea was that Keren would follow in her own car.

But she never arrived at the party. Her car, a white Mini Morris 850 sedan was found on Parkes Way, Campbell with no petrol in the tank.

Her remains were discovered at the Air Disaster Memorial nearly three months later. The police say the cause of death has not been established.

Susan Winburn was 45 years old when she was found murdered in her home at Knoke Avenue in Gordon on January 13, 2004.

Susan Winburn. Picture: supplied

Her sister found her naked in the bathtub after failing to turn up to work. She had been strangled.

The police say there were no signs of forced entry to her home but her purse had been taken.

She was last seen alive buying items from the Erindale Chemist in the Erindale Shopping Centre, Wanniassa at about 7.10pm that evening.

Rewards of $500,000 were launched for information "that would lead to the apprehension and subsequent conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murders of Frank Campbell, Kathryn Grosvenor and Susan Winburn".

Anyone with information should tell the police. Crime Stoppers are on 1800 333 000.

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