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Irma Palascis was bound and savagely beaten in her home in 1999. ACT police made an arrest 24 years later

By Staff Reporters
Updated September 20 2023 - 5:20pm, first published 5:18pm
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  • About 9.30pm on Saturday, November 6, 1999, two men forced their way into the McKellar home of elderly couple, Gregor and Irma Palasics.
  • The couple were bound and savagely beaten before the men ransacked their home and stole cash and jewellery. Irma did not survive her injuries and died at the scene.
  • Gregor and Irma were also victims of a burglary in 1997 and an aggravated burglary in 1998 when they lived in Red Hill.
  • Police suspect that a possible link exists between the burglaries in 1997 and 1998 and the home invasion on November 6, 1999, which resulted in the murder of Irma Palasics.
  • September 7, 2012: Reward increases to $500,000 as police hunt her killer.
  • New forensic tests suggested a DNA link between the murder and a putt-putt business break-in prompts a fresh push for information in late 2014.
  • ACT Policing Senior Constable Jarryd Dunbar said brand-new forensic tests connected one of the attackers to one of five young men who broke into Pitch and Putt at Phillip on May 16, 2010.
  • Australian Federal Police chief scientist Simon Walsh used a new forensic search that picked up "familial DNA", which linked criminals to genetic material belonging to a relative, to trace blood belonging to one of the men found at the putt-putt facility to Mrs Palasics' murder scene.
  • But police dismissed the connection between the two incidents less than a year later, leaving Mrs Palasics' family in limbo again.
  • Pressure of police resources, insufficient funding and frequent staff changes in the homicide team were blamed for the lack of breakthroughs on the investigation.
  • Police announce on September 20, 2023 they have arrested a 68-year-old man in Rowville, Melbourne and accused him of the vicious bashing murder of Canberra grandmother Irma Palasics.
  • Police are still hunting for a second offender, and have urged him to come forward, saying it was "only a matter of time" before he, too, was in custody.
  • After nearly 24 years of pain, questioning and uncertainty, the family of Irma Palasics have some closure about the brutal murder of their mother, sister and grandmother.
Irma Palasics was murdered in her home during a burglary. Picture supplied
Irma Palasics was murdered in her home during a burglary. Picture supplied

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