Sorry, but I'm confused... where did it say they were looking for the owner, or didn't know, who owned the kimono? All I recall reading was that it was stolen off a washing line. Ergo, someone reported it stolen. Presumably the owner. Am I missing something?
The original article where the cop held the kimono up seems to imply that the kimono was stolen from Victoria Clarke but doesn't give many specifics.
"The West Australian, Perth Wednesday Feruary 17 1988
Kimono clue to a brutal killing
by Cyril Ayris
This kimono may be the clue that helps
solve the brutal killing of Victoria Heather
Clark, 30, in Victoria Park last September.
It was dropped by a man that walked
into a Huntingdale house early on Monday
morning and lay on top of a sleeping
18-year-old girl...
The kimono is the first good clue the police
have been given in recent sex attacks in the area.
Det-Sgt Max Kiernan said the man
apparently walked into the house..."
Post arrest other articles appeared stating the kimono was stolen off a clothesline.
[FONT="]A WOMAN'S silk dressing gown stolen off a washing line 28 years ago is believed to have been the vital clue that helped lead police to finally make an arrest in the Claremont serial killer case.
[/FONT]http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/claremont-serial-killings-silk-kimono-believed-to-be-vital-clue/news-story/d5498c5d0593771d7f526f90646d52f0