The husband of a doting mum has been charged with her murder more than three decades after she was supposedly found dead by him.
Melinda Freeman was just 26 when her body was found in her home on Yea Road, Whittlesea, about 40km north-east of Melbourne on Friday, October 4, 1991.
Her body was found in the upstairs hallway of the home she shared with her husband, Craig Freeman, and infant son.
She had been brutally assaulted in a crime that went on to baffle detectives for decades.
On Wednesday, Victoria Police arrested gardener Freeman, 63, in his Greensborough home and later charged him with his wife’s murder.
Freeman will front Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, where more details about the allegations are likely to emerge.
The arrest will come as some relief to Ms Freeman’s long-suffering family, who have made a number of public appeals for information in relation to her death over the past three decades.
Ms Freeman’s husband had always been ‘a person of interest’ although police were unable to make a case against him until now.
Melinda Freeman (pictured with her infant son) was allegedly murdered in 1991
A 1997 coroner’s inquest revealed Freeman had been having an affair with a close friend of his wife at the time of her death.
Despite family suspicions, Coroner Jacinta Heffey delivered an open finding, stating there was insufficient evidence to support claims that he was responsible, dismissing them as ‘impressions, conjecture, and speculation’.
In February 2022, police announced a $1million reward in relation to the case, which could be up for grabs should police secure a conviction.
On the day she died, Ms Freeman and her husband had been at a family reunion to welcome her sister back from overseas.
The couple arrived home from the function at about 4pm and Ms Freeman then prepared dinner for the family.
Later her husband and child left the house, so Ms Freeman could be left alone to study for her proposed career in the beauty industry.
About 11.30pm, her husband told police he returned home and unlocked the back door before noticing the premises appeared to have been ransacked.
It was at this time he also noticed that the front door of the house was open.
The home where Melinda Freeman was allegedly bashed to death by her husband
There had been signs of a struggle in the house and police believed the killer had tried to make it look like a robbery
Freeman told police he then walked to the bottom of the stairs where he saw his wife’s body lying on the top-floor landing.
Despite a significant investigation over the past 30 years, detectives had been unable to establish Ms Freeman’s final movements on the night and the events which led to her death.
She had come from a close and loving family and was said to be a doting mother to her baby son.
In 2018, police received anonymous information from a member of the public regarding Ms Freeman’s death.
Homicide Squad detectives had been keen to speak to that person and appealed for them to contact police again upon announcing the reward.
Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said at the time he hoped the reward would encourage someone to come forward and bring Ms Freeman’s family some measure of peace.
‘As much as this is about holding those responsible to account, Melinda’s family deserves an answer as to why this happened,’ he said in 2022.
‘Her young son has had to grow up without his mother in his life. He’s had to live with this tragedy and feel her loss every single day.
Melinda Freeman was a doting mum when she was allegedly bashed to death in her own home
Melinda Freeman was a doting mother when she was brutally murdered in her own home in 1991
‘It is never too late to tell us what you know and any piece of information, no matter how insignificant you might consider it to be, could be exactly what investigators need.’
Police had long suspected the home had been trashed in an effort by Ms Freeman’s alleged killer to make it look like a robbery gone wrong.
Online sleuths had also held their suspicions about Ms Freeman’s husband, who has operated a gardening business since before his wife’s alleged murder.
More to come.
