Cold case breakthrough after $1million reward: Man, 81, is to be charged over baffling murder mystery where Denise Govendir was found dead in a ritzy Sydney suburb 25 years ago
- Breakthrough in cold case: man arrested
- Denise Govendir Presumably Murdered in 1998
A man has been arrested 25 years after the alleged murder of a woman in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
An 81-year-old man was arrested at 10:15 a.m. Thursday in the death of Denise Govendir, 53, in Dover Heights in March 1998.
Emergency services went to the scene after reports of a home invasion and found the body of the 53-year-old man at around 2 a.m. on Tuesday, March 10, 1998.
Police were informed that the residents, Ms Govendir and a 55-year-old man, had been attacked by a man who entered their home posing as a police officer.
It is believed that the unknown man knocked the 55-year-old man unconscious and then held him down with cable ties.
He is accused of severely assaulting Ms Govendir and then fleeing in a 1997 Ford Laser sedan. The car was found 11 days later 1.7km from the house in Rose Bay.
The 55-year-old man called police after he regained consciousness.
An inquest between 2005 and 2008 found that Ms Govendir had died from a deliberate blunt force trauma to the head by an unknown person.
In late 2023, a $1 million reward was offered to help police solve the mysterious cold case.
The 81-year-old man was arrested on Thursday and is expected to be charged with murder at Springwood police station.
there is more to come
A man has been arrested 25 years after the alleged murder of a woman in Sydney’s eastern suburbs