A fresh inquest into the unsolved murder of mother Maria James has started in Melbourne, 41 years after she was stabbed to death inside her home.
The 38-year-old was stabbed 68 times in the bedroom of her home, which was attached to a Thornbury second-hand book store where she lived her her sons Mark and Adam, who were 13 and 11 at the time.
Ms James' former husband had phoned the shop shortly before she was killed and heard Ms James speaking loudly and a scream before rushing over. He arrived 15 minutes later and discovered her body.
No one has even been charged for the June 1980 murder and it remains under investigation by Victoria Police's cold case unit.
Her murder was the subject of an inquest two years after her death, which found she was murdered by an unknown person.
The case was reopened two years ago, after changes in the law, fresh evidence and admissions from police about their bungled investigation.
The new inquest, which started on Monday, will be broken into two parts, the first examining the cause and circumstances of Ms James' death and to identity of the person who caused her death.
Secondly, it will examine the adequacy of the 1980 to 1982 police investigation including evidence management, and lessons and changes to police practices since then.
Over the three-week inquest, 37 witnesses will give evidence, including witnesses near the scene on June 17, 1980.
More than 3600 pages of evidence have been provided to Deputy State Coroner Caitlin English, including photos of the original crime scene, handwritten notes by police, suspect interviews and witness statements.
Counsel assisting Sharon Lacy's opening statement detailed the history of the case, including six main suspects identified by homicide detective Leigh Prados.
She said only one of these suspects is alive today, a man who worked around the corner from Ms James' book store and is accused of having an affair with her at the time she was murdered.
Detectives believed they had a DNA profile of her killer from a bloody pillow case, which was used to rule out some suspects. But the pillow case actually came from a different crime scene.
Ms Lacy said "14 years of potential progress" in the investigation had been lost due to this error, which was only discovered in 2017, by that time several people of interest had died.
Other evidence, including Ms James' blood-stained clothes, have long been missing from the exhibits held by police.
In June this year a quilted bedspread with blood stains was recovered.
However, Ms Lacy said on Monday "there is presently, no forensic material that may assist in identifying the offender".
