A $1 million reward is being offered to solve the unsolved murder of a Melbourne woman 46 years ago.
Mary Ann Fagan, a 41-year-old mother of five, drove her four children to school at around 10.30am on February 17, 1978, in her garden in Armadale, south-east of Melbourne. He was last seen alive after that.
The children, ages 15, 13, 12 and 6, knew something was wrong when they returned home to find the side gate open and their 17-month-old brother crying inside the house. I realized that.
Fagan’s car was still in the driveway and the door to the house was locked.
The children were out at work, and around 10 a.m., the father called his wife, who had been talking briefly on the phone, from a phone booth. They then returned to the house and entered the house by breaking a window.
They found the mother dead in the front bedroom. She was bound, gagged and stabbed several times.
The motive for her murder is still unknown, and personal belongings taken from her home remain unrecovered.
“We know her family feels her loss as keenly now as it did 46 years ago,” Detective Chief Inspector Thomas of Victoria Police’s Homicide Unit said in a statement.
“Each of her children had to grow up without a mother and I know they thought about it almost every day.
“Mary Ann was brutally murdered for no apparent reason, in the safest place possible, with her 17-month-old baby by her side.”
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On Friday, Victoria Police announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her death.
A $20,000 reward had previously been offered in April 1978, but was increased to $50,000 in June of that year.
Detectives have spoken to dozens of people over the years and remain confident they can solve cold cases.
“I hope this call will encourage someone to contact the police many years later,” Thomas said.
