GUILTY Australia - Nella Poli, 19, found strangled, Sydney, NSW, 13 May 1987

[ctaylor]

Couldn't find a thread on this, sorry if posted before. I'm glad Nella's family have it resolved at last -

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10700346

An Auckland man who allegedly murdered his estranged girlfriend in 1987 has handed himself into police after being on the run for almost 24 years.

Auckland woman Nella Celeste Poli, 19, was found dead in her bed at her west Sydney home in May 1987 by her mother after she failed to show up for work.

The young barmaid, who had been in Sydney for only a couple of years, had a 20cm burn mark around her neck, leading police to believe she had been strangled with a piece of rope or cord.

It was reported at the time that a photo of Miss Poli with the head ripped off was found near her body.

A taskforce was set up to investigate Miss Poli's murder, and New South Wales police issued a warrant for the arrest of her de facto husband.

 

[OkieGranny]

From June 2012:

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-jailed-for-murder-of-lover-after-decades-on-run-20120622-20te6.html

For more than two decades Grant David Mitchell hid from the consequences of a brutal crime...

In May 1987 the New Zealander murdered his girlfriend, Nella Poli, 19, in their inner Sydney home after a furious argument, using pantyhose and a pillow to strangle and choke her to death. He then threw away his identification and fled north, managing to escape police detection by using false names and surviving on the money earned by doing odd jobs.

But in January last year, Mitchell finally turned himself in and yesterday, at the age of 62, he was sentenced to at least 10 years in jail for the murder.