A homeless man has faced court over the alleged double murder of a pregnant woman and her partner.

Ross Judd, 34, was charged with murdering 39-year-old Athena Georgopoulos and 50-year-old Andrew Gunn inside a home at Mount Waverley, in Melbourne’s south-east, on Monday night.

He walked into the Melbourne Magistrates Court dock on Wednesday wearing a black T-shirt, sporting a short black beard and a mohawk-style hair cut.

During the hearing, the police prosecutor sought a 10-week extension for investigators to provide a brief of the case.

“It’s a complex crime scene [with] a significant amount of DNA [to be examined],” she said.

The prosecutor also attributed the delay to the two autopsies that needed to be performed on the victims.

“One of the people was pregnant and that has resulted in the delay,” she said.

“We are unable to provide a timeframe for when the DNA [examination] would be done.”

Judd’s lawyer Annie Allan said it was the 34-year-old’s first time in custody. She requested he see the prison nurse to follow up on medication.

Judd stared straight ahead throughout the hearing and responded “yeah, I do” when magistrate Johanna Metcalf outlined his next court appearance details and asked if he understood.

He smiled when Metcalf granted a media application to access his charges but refused other materials.

Victoria Police had received a call from a concerned neighbour at 9.20pm after hearing yelling from the property, homicide squad detective Dean Thomas said on Tuesday. A follow-up call suggested the incident was “more urgent”, and officers arrived at 9.50pm.

“They found the male and female inside the premises deceased,” Thomas said.

“It appears to be a targeted attack. Our suspect is known to the address.”

Police later arrested Judd, who was with two large dogs, at Westall Railway Station, about six kilometres from the home.

There are multiple reports that Gunn’s head was found mounted on a spike in the couple’s home. The nature of Georgopoulos’s injuries remains unclear.

Photographs and vision from the house show its outside walls and a fence spray-painted with the phrases “enough is enough”, “karma has no menu” and “betrayal, unpredictable, inevitable”.

Nader Youssef, who lives down the street from Georgopoulos and Gunn, was turned away by police that night. He wasn’t allowed back home until later on Tuesday.

“My brother said he heard screams and shouting,” Youssef said on Wednesday.

The “alarming” incident hit close to home and was the first conflict on the street where he had lived for more than a decade.

“I was shocked that it happened on my street. I thought it was just old retirees around here,” he said.

While he didn’t know the couple well, Youssef said they occasionally exchanged pleasantries.

“They’re very nice, very quiet people, which shocks me even more,” he said.

Bob, who lived next door to Georgopoulos and Gunn, said they usually kept to themselves and he had spoken only occasionally to the man, who he knew as Andy.

He didn’t hear yelling on the night, but heard Andy’s dog bark repeatedly.

“That was strange because they’ve never, ever done that … I reckon it woke me up twice,” he said.

“I heard the helicopter and then I must have went back to sleep. When I got up, all I could see was lights and everything was happening.”

A resident of Adrienne Crescent for more than 68 years, Bob said he had never experienced anything like Monday night’s events.

Meanwhile, Georgopoulos’s mother Petty has expressed her sorrow over the death of her daughter, who she said was due to give birth in four months.

“These last days you were so happy, we dreamt together about our granddaughter who you would bring into this life and suddenly all was extinguished in one night,” she said in a tribute on Facebook translated from Greek.

“Even in our separation, I will never stop loving you and look forward to our reunion.”

Judd will next appear at the court via video link on January 13, 2026.

-with AAP