Police are appealing to the public for any information on the murder of 33-year-old hairdresser Penny Galanopoulos.

Ms Galanopoulos was found dead in her fire-damaged house on January 10.

Police determined her death was “suspicious” and that she was killed before the fire was lit in her Como Parade West house.

The homicide squad set up an information caravan in the Mordialloc area this week in the hope someone will come forward.

A handwritten letter was delivered recently to a bayside police station which could hold the key to the woman’s death.
Investigators believe the letter’s author could hold more crucial information.

Detective Senior Sergeant David Snare has called for the author to get in touch with police again.

“It might help us if the person was able to re-contact us to shore things up”, he said.

Ms Galanopoulos was described by her family as “fun loving and open-hearted”. Her sister, Helen Papas, described her younger sister as “always outgoing” and was always “caring about others”.

The hairdresser spent much of her free time socialising and it is believed that a number of people were at her house before she was killed.

Her sister believes her kindness might have been the catalyst to her death.

“She would do anything for anyone, she was so open-hearted and she just let the wrong people in, in my view”, she told The Age.

Galanopoulos’s neighbour Julie Green called 000 at 5.11am after she woke to see the fire on January 10. She said there had been a lot of fights, hoon activity and late-night arguments since Ms Galanopoulos moved in about 18 months before her death.

On December 30, Ms Green saw a man break a window and enter the property.

“On hot nights around midnight we were always ready to hear an argument or shouting,” she told the Leader.
Police are also investigating any potential links to a home invasion three days after Ms Galanopoulos’ death.

Three men broke into the Beaumaris house of one of her friends and threatened her with a sawn-off shotgun. The men returned later that night but were asked to leave by the woman’s friends.

Mrs Papas said her sister’s death had been particularly hard on the family, especially their elderly father.

”I missed her on Christmas Day, we’d left my family’s before she got there. She was never on time. She rang at home later on that night just to say Merry Christmas and sorry we missed each other, and that was it,” she told The Age.

”We miss her, we loved her and it shouldn’t have happened.”