WA: Dressing gown holds muder key: police

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WA: Dressing gown holds muder key: police

By Selina Day

PERTH, April 2 AAP - A terry-towelling bathrobe holds the key to one of Perth's mostbaffling recent murder mysteries.

Police believe they can solve the murder of mother-of-two Susan Margaret Christie,who disappeared on November 15 last year, by matching DNA found in her near-city unitwith that on the robe she was believed to be wearing.

But they still have no body, and no bathrobe.

Ms Christie's disappearance has baffled police, who only today formally declared shehad been murdered - despite conducting a homicide investigation in the months since herdisappearance.

Detectives revealed blood was found splattered around her Jolimont unit, that someonehad partially cleaned up the flat and that Ms Christie's two former husbands had beeninterviewed during inquiries.

But they have not yet established how, when or why she was killed.

Ms Christie was last seen by a neighbour as she returned from buying a bottle of wineat the nearby Wembley Hotel about 10pm on Thursday, November 15.

No-one made contact with her the following day but her second husband went to her CurrieStreet unit on Saturday, November 17, Major Crime Unit officer Scott Higgins said today.

The man knocked on the door but there was no answer and he left.

It was not until November 19 that Ms Christie's first husband knocked and let himselfinto the unit and realised she was missing.

"From what we've found ... we're fairly satisfied she was attacked inside the uniteither on the Thursday night or the Friday, most likely to be the Friday," Detective SergeantHiggins said.

"Whether she was killed in the unit, or whether she was attacked and taken out, eithercarried out or walked out, we don't know.

"We can't say either way whether she was hit with a blunt instrument, whether she waspunched, whether she could have been cut, the experts can't tell us."

Det Sgt Higgins said police had been treating Ms Christie's disappearance as a homicidesince early December but it was not prudent to release details of their inquiries untilnow.

Detectives are now focusing their efforts on finding a plush, white terry-towellingbathrobe they believe Ms Christie was wearing when she was killed - and, with it, herbody.

They want to match the garment with a number of DNA profiles found inside the unit,some of which already have been excluded.

AAP sd/jmd/bwl

KEYWORD: CHRISTIE