Peter Dupas charged with murder of 95yo Kathleen Downes at Melbourne nursing home

Peter Dupas has been charged with murder over the stabbing death of 95-year-old Kathleen Downes at a Brunswick nursing home in 1997.

The ABC has learned that Dupas was charged last week with one count of murder, and will be presented in the Supreme Court in March without facing a committal hearing.

Mrs Downes was stabbed three times in the neck and her throat was cut in her room at the Brunswick Lodge Aged Care Facility in the early hours of December 31, 1997.

She was last seen at 12:30am when a staff member conduced a routine check of the residents, and her body was found by a second staff member at 6:20am.

The investigation into her death found that the person responsible was likely to have entered the building through a wind-out window, after using bolt cutters to sever the chain section of the winding mechanism.

The flyscreen of the window was cut, and a pair of milk crates were apparently stacked up by the alleged killer to allow them to climb through the window.

An extensive search of the scene, and neighbouring properties and streets failed to yield any weapon that might have been used to kill Mrs Downes, and no identifiable fingerprints were found at the scene.

In December 2000, police announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Mrs Downes' killer.

In announcing the reward, Victoria Police said Mrs Downes was remembered by family and friends as "a dear old lady with a wonderful nature, who was considered the matriarch of the nursing home".

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