Holy f**king sh*t i'm scared
Young mum screamed for help as killer chased her
Anthony Dowsley and Gareth Trickey
April 29, 2008 10:57am
POLICE have found the getaway car used by the suspect in the brutal slaying of a young mother in Frankston yesterday, but are still unsure of his whereabouts.
The suspect was last seen driving a white Mazda utility vehicle with a white canopy, registration ETM 150, in Somerville late yesterday afternoon.
It is thought he exchanged his getaway vehicle, a silver Commodore, with an associate. The Commodore was found by police at 4.45am this morning and is being examined by a forensics team.
The name or image of the suspect has not yet been released, with police keen to establish his identity beyond a reasonable doubt so as not to prejudice any future trial.
Det Insp Stephen Clark was reluctant to go into specifics on the suspect's criminal past, but confirmed that he had an "extensive violent criminal history".
He again urged the public not to approach the suspect if they see him, describing him as "armed and dangerous", and asked that they call triple 000 immediately.
Four associates of the suspect are in Frankston station assisting police with their inquiries.
Police believe the suspect lived alone, and have searched previous addresses.
Det Insp Clark again appealed for the gunman to give himself up.
The young mother gunned down yesterday had told her family she feared for her life after being told her partner had killed and raped before.
The manhunt for the killer has now gone national, after Tracy Greenbury, 33, was gunned down after fleeing her Frankston home yesterday. She was shot as she tried to get help from a neighbour.
The Herald Sun understands the suspect has a prior conviction for murder and had previously shown Ms Greenbury his gun and ammunition.
Ms Greenbury's father Max said his daughter alerted him to the suspect’s violent nature about a week ago.
“'Dad, she said, 'he kept me for two hours in a caravan and I tried to get away',” Mr Greenbury told 3AW radio.
“He dragged me in by the hair and he produced a gun, put it to my head and then he took the gun away and pulled the bullets out of the gun and said, Don’t push my buttons, you’re pushing me too far.
“I said to her we’ve got to go to the police, and she said, I’m too frightened Dad, she said, just let it go, he’ll probably go away.”
Mr Greenbury said his daughter believed the suspect had spent time in jail for two separate incidents.
“She said that he had spent time in jail, that he had murdered a girl when he was about 19, 20 years of age," Mr Greenbury.
“I believe what tipped her over the edge was, she said to me, she said, Dad I’ve got to break this off. I believe that he raped a girl and got nine years for it.”
Mr Greenbury then broke down in tears as he told of his daughter’s fears.
Mr Greenbury said the man, in his late 50s or early 60s, had become besotted with his daughter.
"He was just a friend and she didn't want anything to do with him, and he decided to come back and shoot her," he said.
"She met this guy and she thought he was OK, then he made a few threats.
"She got frightened and she told me about it. She told me yesterday or the day before. I didn't trust this guy at all."
He said the pair met about two months ago at his son’s place in Mornington.
Tracey's two children, Harley, 13, and Jamie-Lee, 9, are staying with a relative.
The grieving parents told the Herald Sun their daughter's last moments were a nightmare.
"She was no match against a brute with a gun who shot her straight in the back of the neck," Ms Greenbury's mother Pam said.
"It's hideous."
Mrs Greenbury said her daughter had been trying to better herself through study at TAFE.
"Tracey's a real little battler. She loved those kids. They were her life," she said.
"She was a single mother trying to bring up two children on her own."
Police will reveal further details at a press conference later this morning.
Ms Greenbury fled after opening her front door to a grey-haired man brandishing a shotgun yesterday.
But the mother of two was killed with a single blast to her head moments later on the doorstep of a neighbour's home as she screamed for help.
The killer then fled the area in a silver Holden Commodore and remained on the run last night.
The shooting sparked widespread fear as heavily armed police, sniffer dogs and a search helicopter swooped on the Burns St murder scene soon after the murder at 9.10am.
Nearby Frankston High School was closed for 90 minutes and Frankston Hospital added extra security guards as the manhunt spread.
The gunman has been described as being in his 60s, 1.8m tall, with grey hair and a solid build. He was wearing a blue parachute jacket.
While police say there was no family relationship between the man and woman, they confirmed the pair knew each other.
As the manhunt fanned out, a man was arrested at his Burns St home, but was quickly cleared of any involvement.
Det Sen-Sgt Rowland Legg of homicide told the public to call 000 if they see the gunman.
"It is a dangerous situation . . . we believe he is still armed, and people should keep their distance," Sen-Sgt Legg said.
Burns St resident Steve Neville said the house where Ms Greenbury lived was "the quietest in the street".
"You'd barely know if anyone was living there," Mr Neville said.
He said he heard a "big bang" just before he was to go to the shops.
"When I came back there were police everywhere," Mr Neville said.
He did not know Ms Greenbury well, but said that he had seen "an older guy" at the front of the house with her children on weekends.
"There were kids sitting on his lap . . . he was a fair bit older than her," Mr Neville said.
Mr Greenbury said the family had been devastated by another murder tragedy 40 years ago when his cousin was stabbed to death by a man who followed her home.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit
www.crimestoppers.com
- additional reporting by Mark Buttler, Anne Wright
I live in Somerville.
