New leads have now emerged in the cold case search for the murderer of Mrs Smith, who was raped, bound and strangled with her tights. Her clothes had been cut off with a knife from the unit. It is the first time a $1 million reward has been offered since a new rewards system was announced in December 2017. The only other cases with $1 million rewards in NSW are William Tyrrell, the three-year-old boy missing since 2014 wearing a Spiderman outfit, and Lynette White, stabbed in her Coogee apartment in 1973. The White case is no longer believed to be linked to Mrs Smith's killing. New information Detective Senior Constable Deon Kelly, present at the interview with Mr Smith, said that Mr Smith had revealed information he hadn't disclosed previously to police. Mr Smith was questioned through the night after the discovery of his wife's body on the Monday evening of April 22.

The detective also revealed new details surrounding events on the weekend before the murder. He said a farewell party was held on the Friday at the Malabar RSL Club where Maria had worked part-time as a bar attendant. Her husband had also worked in the bar and restaurant. Maria Smith, 20, who was found dead in her Randwick unit in Sydney on Monday, April 22, 1974. Homicide Unit has established Strike Force Auris to reinvestigate. Credit:NSW Police The Friday night party had moved on to a pub in Randwick and then back to the couple's first floor apartment in St Marks Road, Randwick. Speaking this month, Mr Smith revealed he wasn't home that night because he attended a Japanese film as part of his university studies in engineering. Detective Kelly said, with her husband absent, a male at the party made strong advances to Mrs Smith. They were firmly rejected.

Following the discovery of Mrs Smith's body three days later, police said there was no way to say how the murderer entered the premises. A neighbour said there was no knock at the door. There was no sign of forced entry. Detective Kelly said: “There's a balcony. You'd have to climb up. Then there's a sliding door. When the police got there it was locked. That's not to say it wasn't open at some point although Steve said he locked it. That's a line of inquiry.” Police are now also interested in a mustard-coloured Ford Capri seen at the units on the morning of the murder. Concerns were raised when Mrs Smith failed to arrive at Brigidine Convent School in Randwick where she was a trainee teacher. She would normally catch a bus by about 8.15am. The post mortem supports that being about the time of death. An inquest in 1975 found she had been strangled by an unknown person. Stephen Smith, husband of Maria Smith. He asked not to be identified. Credit:Janie Barrett

Reflecting on their relationship, Mr Smith said he had just left school when he met Maria. They met at Coogee beach. He would have been 18 or 19, Maria would have been 17. When they married in February 1974 Steve was 22. In their eight weeks of marriage he said there wasn't a lot of money but it was comfortable. They had discussed starting a family but not for two or three years as they were still at university. “I didn't earn a huge amount of money but enough to cover the bills,” he said. “Maria decided the week before to stop working at the club to concentrate on her studies. I don't recall the colour but I did see the car we are talking about. Stephen Smith “She had finished working at the club on the Friday before and I had finished working there in December. I was not too popular there because I caught someone rifling the till and I did something naughty. I slammed the till on his fingers.”

He continued: “We went to a party on Saturday night. I had too much to drink. I didn't have an alcohol resistance in those days because alcohol cost money so it didn't take much to get me drunk. We slept in the next day. We didn't do very much on the Sunday. We had dinner and went to bed early. I wasn't feeling very well. “On the Monday I had to be in North Sydney by 8.30. I just remember getting up early and driving to work. I had breakfast and took off. I would have left before 7.30, maybe 7 because of the traffic. “Maria was organising herself to go and teach at Brigidine that morning. Below our first level unit there is car parking.” Asked about the mustard-coloured car, he said: “I don't recall the colour but I did see the car we are talking about.” A Capri? “Yes I saw it. It was a car that I hadn't seen there before.” He said he was going to uni on Monday night but decided to go home beforehand for dinner. Asked what he saw on entering the flat he broke down and said he couldn't continue.

Mustard Capri Mk 1 (with stripe digitally added) of interest to police. One report at the time said he had touched Maria on shoulder. Another said he gave her a push and her body fell on the floor from the bed. He said: “Between the two. I didn't push, I didn't push but she fell on the floor.” Had he put her back on bed? “No. I went out to the kitchen and I think I rang my parents. “I rang the police. They turned up. They asked me to stand outside which I did. Next thing I was in Randwick police station. They took me out the back. I was there until about 8am in the morning. I felt as though I was a suspect but a couple of days later they [police] told me I was not on any suspect list. “I have always assumed it [the murder] was associated with the Malabar , only because of the people that were there. There were some shady characters, that's the best way of describing it.” Stephen Smith, husband of eight weeks of Maria Smith. Credit:Fairfax

He suggested his wife may have known her killer. “She knew him, recognised him, maybe, I am only guessing, because, no offence, but police have kept a fair bit back from me because, I assume, they would be worried that I might do something. That's not the case.” Mr Smith said that after the murder he met someone else and got remarried in 1977. They divorced in about 1996. “It wasn't a successful marriage at all. Two wonderful boys who I talk to every couple of days. I remarried in 2005 and very successfully. “I'm still working as an engineer. Life's OK, it's comfortable, nothing stressful. My wife likes to travel, so do I. It probably took me more than 10 years to get over the financial disaster of the divorce that left me technically bankrupt. I just keep working.” He said he was talking publicly now because of the reward and because of Detective Kelly's positive attitude. “Year 10 nothing was happening. Year 20 nothing was happening. I just assumed that the guy had died, gone overseas or was in jail. I am assuming that somebody knows something. And they are not coming forward. Now's the time.” The investigation has been hampered because exhibits collected at the crime scene had been misplaced.

Appeal to the public Detective Kelly said no particular person from Malabar RSL was being looked at. “We don't have all the names of the people that Maria and Steve interacted with. That would be one of the appeals to the public, people that regularly went to the Malabar, if they noticed if there was anyone who was strange or friendly with Maria.” Of the Friday night party, he added: “People went back to the unit. Guys and girls. Some, not necessarily well-known to Maria. That is a strong line of inquiry that we need more information about, who might have been at that party. There were about 15 people there. They must know who they are. More of them need to come forward. “It was a strong unwanted advance. It is definitely one of the lines of inquiry that need to be fully exhausted. We only have another guy who was at the flat saying ‘this individual was there’. The informant has since committed suicide. The suicide note recently recovered made no mention of the murder.” Detective Kelly said he learned more about the case listening to Mr Smith's interview with The Sun-Herald.

“That's the first time I've heard about him slamming someone's fingers in the till. Considering we have a recorded interview with him, they kept him all night, he didn't mention the Capri. He didn't mention the till incident. That's the sort of thing you would expect from strong questioning. The first time we heard about the Capri was about a year ago when he emailed the investigation's co-ordinator. He didn't say anything about seeing the Capri originally. He added: “We are interested in the mustard Ford Capri because a few people said it was parked there, including Steve. There's a few different lines of inquiry – that's one of them. “We can't locate any of the crime scene exhibits at this point. Efforts are going on to trace where items were placed by scenes of crime at the time. “There certainly would be DNA but we need to find those exhibits. If we had the DNA, whether or not they are on the system is a different story, but we would have the DNA of the killer.” Detective Kelly said that since the increase in reward some new lines of inquiry were being looked at. They are hopeful that with her husband's emotional appeal, more will be forthcoming.