So why did this elderly woman travel 50 kilometres out of her way for no apparent reason, only to be set on fire?
Zane
From The Melbourne Age
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Mystery surrounds murdered woman
Mark Russell
March 11, 2007
FIVE months on, homicide detectives remain puzzled as to why murdered pensioner Rosemaria Lauria travelled 50 kilometres by train to Frankston, where she was attacked and set on fire.
Ms Lauria, 68, appears to have made her own way from her Brunswick home to Frankston, an area she normally never visited, without telling her family or friends.
Police initially believed she had been abducted because such a trip was so out of character.
"That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" investigating officer Detective Senior Constable Kirk Pennuto told The Sunday Age when asked why Ms Lauria caught a train to Frankston after telling her sister she was going shopping in Coburg.
Country Fire Authority firefighters found the pensioner's badly burned body about 7pm on October 9. She was lying close to a path between the Kananook Creek Reserve and the beach near the Frankston Life Saving Club.
An autopsy revealed she was alive when her body was set on fire. Police said she could have died of smoke inhalation or toxic fumes from her burning clothes. Her charred body was identified from dental records and DNA testing.
There were reports that a gang of youths was seen running from the area after Ms Lauria, a former hospital laundry worker, was set alight, but Senior Constable Pennuto said that was not the case.
Asked if the murder was being investigated as a thrill killing, Senior Constable Pennuto said: "We're not ruling anything out. Those sorts of things are obviously possibilities."
He said police were investigating a number of leads but he could not elaborate.
"To be honest, it's been a fairly slow process," he said. "The whole Frankston connection is a little bit unclear at this point."
Ms Lauria, who lived alone and had no children, was last seen leaving her house in Inverness Street about 2pm on the day she disappeared. She told her sister she was going shopping and banking in the Coburg area.
It is known that she did not visit the bank that day.
Ms Lauria had lived in her Brunswick flat next to her sister and brother-in-law for 35 years after migrating from Italy to Australia. She was a regular at the Lyndhurst Hotel, where she liked to play the poker machines.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Zane
From The Melbourne Age
link
Mystery surrounds murdered woman
Mark Russell
March 11, 2007
FIVE months on, homicide detectives remain puzzled as to why murdered pensioner Rosemaria Lauria travelled 50 kilometres by train to Frankston, where she was attacked and set on fire.
Ms Lauria, 68, appears to have made her own way from her Brunswick home to Frankston, an area she normally never visited, without telling her family or friends.
Police initially believed she had been abducted because such a trip was so out of character.
"That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" investigating officer Detective Senior Constable Kirk Pennuto told The Sunday Age when asked why Ms Lauria caught a train to Frankston after telling her sister she was going shopping in Coburg.
Country Fire Authority firefighters found the pensioner's badly burned body about 7pm on October 9. She was lying close to a path between the Kananook Creek Reserve and the beach near the Frankston Life Saving Club.
An autopsy revealed she was alive when her body was set on fire. Police said she could have died of smoke inhalation or toxic fumes from her burning clothes. Her charred body was identified from dental records and DNA testing.
There were reports that a gang of youths was seen running from the area after Ms Lauria, a former hospital laundry worker, was set alight, but Senior Constable Pennuto said that was not the case.
Asked if the murder was being investigated as a thrill killing, Senior Constable Pennuto said: "We're not ruling anything out. Those sorts of things are obviously possibilities."
He said police were investigating a number of leads but he could not elaborate.
"To be honest, it's been a fairly slow process," he said. "The whole Frankston connection is a little bit unclear at this point."
Ms Lauria, who lived alone and had no children, was last seen leaving her house in Inverness Street about 2pm on the day she disappeared. She told her sister she was going shopping and banking in the Coburg area.
It is known that she did not visit the bank that day.
Ms Lauria had lived in her Brunswick flat next to her sister and brother-in-law for 35 years after migrating from Italy to Australia. She was a regular at the Lyndhurst Hotel, where she liked to play the poker machines.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.