A regional NSW city has been devastated by the alleged homicide of a beloved Elvis impersonator.
Bernie Peri, 75, was discovered useless in his Parkes residence on Sunday afternoon, allegedly killed by 28-year-old Marshall Karaitiana.
Police arrested Karaitiana on Tuesday night in Tullamore, about 100km north-west of Parkes, and charged him with homicide.
The musician was a staple of the central-west NSW city’s annual Elvis Competition since its inception in 1993, with Parkes Shire councillor Ken McGrath saying locals had been devastated by his demise.
“He got here to the pageant and we simply acquired on like a home on fireplace, he made such an enormous contribution,” he stated.
Peri moved to Australia from New Zealand and lived in Parkes for greater than 15 years, McGrath stated.
“He was a high bloke — the kind of bloke you could not have an argument with,” he stated.
Representatives of the Royal Lodge, which Peri frequented, had been too upset to supply remark when requested on Wednesday afternoon.
On its Fb web page, pub administration described him as a “beloved pal”.
Karaitiana confronted Lake Cargelligo Native Courtroom on Wednesday to reply his single cost of homicide.
He didn’t apply for bail and it was formally refused.
Parkes’s annual pageant, which coincides with the King of Rock’n’Roll’s birthday — 8 January — usually attracts about 25,000 folks to the farming city and brings in round $13 million.
It was based to attract guests in the course of the historically quiet summer season interval.
