By DANIELLE GALVIN
ONE week on and Pakenham continues to reel following the senseless and vicious murder of a normal mum in her McCaffery Rise home.
Police are appealing for the public assistance in their investigation and particularly eager to speak to a man seen in the area on the day.
Kylie Blackwood was discovered by her twin 11-year-old girls when returned home from St Patrick’s Primary School on the afternoon of Thursday 1 August.
Detective Inspector John Potter from the Homicide Squad addressed the media for the second time on Monday to call for information regarding the murder.
“The Homicide Squad are appealing for public assistance in relation to our investigation into the death of a woman in Pakenham last Thursday,” he said.
Det Insp Potter said his team had spoken to a local tradesman who had seen a man wearing a grey striped hoody walking down the street on the day.
“We believe we have narrowed down the time frames as to when this situation would have occurred as well as a possible person of interest,” he said.
“We believe that this has happened sometime between midday and 3.40pm when the children came home from school.
“A local tradesman was working in the street and observed a man wearing a grey hoody, dark trousers, a black cap and sunglasses.
“He was described to us as behaving suspiciously, possibly looking into houses.”
Det Insp Potter said the tradesman spotted the suspicious man around noon – when Mrs Blackwood returned home from shopping.
Dec Insp Potter said the man may not have been involved but still needed to contact police.
“We know the garage door was open as Mrs Blackwood was going out later.
“It is possible that whoever is responsible for this horrific crime has entered the house from the front garage door and into the house from a side door leading into the house itself.”
Det Insp Potter said investigators continued to work with the family as to whether anything had been stolen from the house.
“It has been difficult to take the family back there, we are doing this in a progressive way to be sure what we are dealing with,” he said.
“Our appeal today is for anyone that thinks they can help us with regard to suspicious activity in either McCaffery Rise or streets nearby in the days leading up to Thursday and also on the day, we are interested in hearing from you.”
No weapon has been recovered and police have not released details of the cause of death or Mrs Blackwood’s injuries.
Det Insp Potter said no one had been questioned so far.
“What we have been doing is exploring whether it is burglary related,” he said.
“The other focus is to broaden our search for CCTV footage – there was none in that street but we hope that this person has been walking in other streets on that day.
Police are appealing for anyone with information that might help the investigation to come forward.
Police also wish to speak to anyone who may have noticed any suspicious behaviour in the area in the days preceding the grim discovery.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit crimestoppers.com.au.
