Phil Akers says he spoke to Perry Kouroumblis almost every day for about 10 years, when the man lived next door to his business in Dandenong.
But over the weekend came news that left him "dumbfounded". The 65-year-old dual Greek-Australian citizen had been arrested in Rome in connection with the murders of 27-year-old Susan Bartlett and 28-year-old Suzanne Armstrong.
"When I heard the news, you could have knocked me off the chair with a feather. I was dumbfounded," Mr Akers told 7.30
"I don't think he's capable of murder.
Perry Kouroumblis has been arrested in Italy over the murders that took place in the 1970s. (Supplied)
"Anything is possible, but I never saw any aggression in him at all."
It's a belief that was built on a friendship that saw the pair spend countless recreational hours together.
Phil Akers kept in touch with Perry Kouroumblis after he moved to Greece in 2016. (ABC News: Sean Warren)
"We used to go out fishing together on the boat and just sit there, have a beer and throw some fish, and he was a good fisherman," Mr Akers told 7.30.
"I don't recall him having a big circle of friends, although he used to have mates drop around from time to time, but there weren't a lot of them.
"I don't ever recall any girlfriends coming around, but he's just an ordinary bloke.
"I don't think he was secretive. He wasn't eccentric in any way, but he lived his own life."
Mr Akers says Mr Kouroumblis was a professional welder who earned enough money over several months to be able to take extended periods off to travel to Greece and visit family each year.
Perry Kouroumblis (left) is currently being held in a Rome prison. (Supplied)
"He would travel over there to visit his mother, and then she got unwell and he said that there was no-one," he told 7.30.
"So he moved there in about 2016 and then sold up all these assets and property here."
The pair kept in touch over social media but Mr Akers says Mr Kouroumblis's connection to the Easey Street murders never came up in conversation.
The Easey Street murders
It was January 1977 when high school friends Ms Bartlett and Ms Armstrong were found stabbed to death in their home on Easey Street in Collingwood.
Easey Street murder victim Suzanne Armstrong. (Supplied)
Veteran crime reporter John Silvester believes it is one of the most gruesome unsolved murders in Victoria's history.
"What the police found was Susan Bartlett in the hallway near the front door. She'd been stabbed more than 20 times," Silvester told 7.30.
Veteran crime reporter John Silvester spoke about the details of the case. (ABC News: Andy Altree-Williams)
"Susan Armstrong was in a bedroom. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 50 times."
Nine days later, in a chance encounter, a 17-year-old Perry Kouroumblis was stopped by police near Easey Street, with officers finding a knife in a scabbard, inside the boot of his car.
"He says, 'Look, I was crossing an overpass over the local railway station. I saw the knife and I went and picked it up. And this is it,'" Silvester said of what Mr Kouroumblis told police at the time.
At the time Mr Kouroumblis was identified as the person who found the murder weapon, he was living with his parents just 300 metres from the victims' home.
The case went cold until 2017 when Victoria Police offered a $1 million reward to anyone who could help solve it.
Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were housemates in Collingwood in 1977. (Supplied: Victoria Police)
Detectives gathered outside the scene of the 1977 Easey Street murders. (ABC News)
Behind the scenes, investigators began ruling out 130 persons of interest through DNA testing until one name remained: Perry Kouroumblis.
"They go to this particular fella, who is alleged to have found a weapon they believe is the murder weapon. So they go back to him and go, 'We need your DNA.' He goes, 'Yes, not a problem,'" Silvester said.
"And then he just disappears and he goes to Greece."
Extradition from Italy
Mr Kouroumblis is reportedly being held in Regina Coeli prison in Rome where he will remain while the extradition process to Australia is commenced.
Italian lawyer Nicola Canestrini said Mr Kouroumblis would be "going through hell right now".
"Regina Coeli is a very bad jail. It's in the city of Rome, an old jailhouse with a lot of problems regarding medical treatment, overcrowding, no warm water," Mr Canestrini said.
He believes if Mr Kouroumblis decides to fight the extradition process through the Italian court system, it could be anything from a few weeks up to years before he returns to Australia.
Perry Kouroumblis, 65, was arrested in Italy over the Easey Street murders. (Facebook: Perry Kouroumblis)
"The defendant has the right to go to Supreme Court," he said.
"This may take … two or three months, more. And if the Supreme Court confirms the extradition, the last word has to be spoken by the Ministry of Justice."
Mr Akers said he had not spoken to Mr Kouroumblis since his arrest but was open to speaking to him if he reached out.
"I definitely will follow the story. If he wants to reach out to me, I'm quite happy to have a chat to him, but I'll follow the story because I'm interested," he said.
"I mean, it's a bit of a shock to my system."
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