Just months before a homeless man allegedly killed a pregnant woman and decapitated her partner, he turned up at a stranger’s door with one shoe on and begged for help.
Ross Judd, 34, surprised the resident at a home in Oakleigh, in Melbourne’s south-east, when he asked the woman to care for his two dogs while he went into hospital last December.
She said at the time that she thought the whole thing was ‘very strange’ and had contacted police before posting in a local Facebook group.
Judd is accused of killing pregnant Athena Georgopoulos, 39, and decapitating her partner Andrew Gunn, 50, before placing his head on a spike at Gunn’s home in Melbourne’s Mount Waverley.
However, her well-meaning post sparked a fierce online debate, with many defending Judd, saying he was deeply devoted to his dogs and needed their support.
One woman said she even invited him in for a hot chocolate.
‘His dogs are gentle and harmless,’ she wrote. ‘Is he still in the area? I will look after his dogs.’
Others vowed to help in the lead up to Christmas by ‘dropping supplies off for him’, while a local dog groomer offered to wash and clip both German shepherds for free.
Judd is accused of killing pregnant woman Athena Georgopoulos (left) and decapitating her partner Andrew Gunn (right)
Ross Judd turned to strangers asking for help in the months before the alleged murder
Police are investigating whether Judd and Mr Gunn may have been involved in a dispute over the ownership and sale of the dogs
‘The gentleman’s name is Ross and he has been living rough for about a year and a half,’ said one woman, in a now-deleted post.
‘He has schizophrenia which is currently trying to be managed, he has a prescription to fill when he gets his payment on Thursday.
‘I asked if perhaps we could go together and get it tomorrow instead but he didn’t want to.
‘He is working with the Salvos trying to find accommodation which is obviously difficult with the two dogs.’
She said Judd got the dogs when he had a job and a home, and urged locals to ‘be kind and supportive’.
She suggested her neighbours should introduce themselves to him ‘and have a cuddle with the dogs’.
‘It will make them all feel seen,’ she added.
The bodies of Ms Georgopoulos and Mr Gunn were discovered by a neighbour at the home on Adrienne Crescent just before 10pm on Monday.
After Judd knocked on her door the unnamed woman shared her encounter
One woman invited him in and volunteered to help with the dogs
Judd was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning at nearby Westall train station with the same two German shepherds by his side
Judd was arrested on in the early hours of Tuesday morning at Westall train station with his two German shepherds by his side.
Just a few hours earlier, shortly after 11pm, diners claimed to have seen a man matching his description walk into a McDonald’s on Dandenong Rd in Clayton with the dogs, who waited patiently at the door.
Police are investigating if Judd and Mr Gunn had been involved in a dispute over the ownership and sale of the dogs in the lead up to the alleged murders.
Friends of Mr Gunn said he was often seen with his own beloved German shepherd, Dragon.
A neighbour of the couple, who claimed to have heard arguing and barking dogs on the night of the alleged murders, spoke out on Wednesday.
‘No one should have to come across what I saw down there,’ said Ben Scott-Sandvik, who lives at the front unit in the block where the alleged double murders took place.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I’m doing ok, but I think Athena’s family is doing a lot worse.
‘Nobody needs to live knowing that this sort of thing has happened to their families.’
Ms Georgopoulos worked as a customer service representative
Judd appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, winking after he tripped as he walked to the dock.
He then smiled throughout the brief filing hearing over the two counts of murder.
The prosecution asked the court for a ten-week extension because ‘it’s a complex crime scene with significant amounts of DNA evidence’.
The prosecutor also said autopsies were expected to be delayed, as alleged murder victim Ms Georgopoulos was five months pregnant when she died.
Daily Mail has previously revealed Ms Georgopoulos was set to face a plea hearing at Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on September 1 for car theft and burglary charges.
The alleged killer’s legal aid lawyer did not oppose the unusually lengthy period to serve the brief, but told the court it was her client’s first time in custody.
Judd also faces charges regarding previous allegations of making threats.
The lawyer also said Judd needed to see the custody nurse for ‘follow-up medication and physical health issues’.
Judd appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, winking after he tripped as he walked to the dock
On Wednesday, Ms Georgopoulos’ mother Petty paid tribute to her daughter. ‘My little heart, you left life so unfairly that I still cannot believe it,’ she said in the touching Facebook post.
‘In recent days you were so happy – we made dreams together for our little granddaughter that you were going to bring into your life.
‘And suddenly, everything was erased in one night, when an [alleged] murderer cut the thread of your life and of my little granddaughter’s life that you were going to bring into the world in four months.
‘No matter how much they separated us, I will never stop loving you. Forever. Until we meet again, my little girl, in the light of the angels.’
Ms Georgopoulos worked as a customer service representative for several electricity and insurance companies, and had been Mr Gunn’s partner for three years.
The couple were found dead after police received calls from neighbours on Monday night about yelling coming from the property, and heavily armed police swarmed the Adrienne Crescent home at 9.55pm.
Inside the small unit, officers allegedly found Mr Gunn’s mutilated body next to the body of Ms Georgopoulos.
