Convicted serial killer Peter Dupas has been charged with the brutal murder of an elderly woman at a Melbourne nursing home 21 years ago.
Kathleen Downes, 95, was found stabbed to death in her room of the Brunswick nursing home on the morning of December 31, 1997.
Police alleged Dupas, 64, used bolt cutters to gain entry through a kitchen window and escaped out a fire exit.
Convicted serial killer Peter Dupas (pictured) has been charged with the brutal murder of an elderly woman at a Melbourne nursing home 21 years ago
Downes (pictured) was found stabbed to death in her room at the Brunswick Lodge Nursing Home on the morning of December 31
He will be presented direct to the Victorian Supreme Court on March 14, bypassing the usual committal process.
Police had initially questioned him over the murder in 2013.
Mrs Downes, a great-grandmother who had lived at the home since 1989, was found lying in a pool of blood beside her bed in the Brunswick Lodge Nursing Home in Loyola Avenue.
A staff member found her about 6.30am. She was last seen alive at 12.30am.
Staff at the nursing home told reporters at the time Mrs Downes was active for her age, despite a recent stroke, and was the matriarch of the nursing home.
Mrs Downes had three children, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Dupas is serving life without parole after he was convicted of killing Mersina Halvagis in Fawkner Cemetery in 1997 and of the mutilation murders of Margaret Maher in October 1997 and Nicole Patterson in April 1999.
In 2015, Sergeant David Dimsey told a Victorian Coroners Court inquest into Ms Downes’ death that there were clear links between her murder and Dupas’ other killings, such as the choice of weapon.
Police alleged Dupas, 64, (pictured) used bolt cutters to gain entry through a kitchen window and escaped out a fire exit
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