Sly: The other person of interest in the brutal bookshop murder of Maria James

A second inquest into the brutal bookshop murder of Maria James last week failed to identify her killer.

Ms James was stabbed 68 times in her Thornbury home, which was behind a secondhand bookshop on June 17, 1980.

While some media has labelled Anthony Buongiorno, a priest who worked in the area, as the “primary suspect” in the case, John ‘Sly’ Silvester says that’s untrue.

“It seems to me that there’s a lot of people who are cheerleading in this particular matter and they want their particular suspect to be the person,” he said.

Sly says while Father Buongiorno is a suspect, there’s another suspect who also coroner Caitlin English said was also “significant” — butcher Peter Keogh, who in 1987 killed his ex-girlfriend.

“Somebody came forward and said ‘A man ordered carnations to be delivered to the bookshop but he was illiterate so he got me to write on the card’. Peter Keough always sent carnations to women, and he was illiterate. I’m not saying Keough did it, but he was a person of great interest,” Sly said.

Press PLAY below to hear Sly share the curious details of the horrific murder case