Police Baffled By Aspects Of Case

Chronicle (Levin), 23 May 1949, Page 5

Police Baffled By Aspects Of Case

Press Association)

(Per

AUCKLAND, May 22. A dancmg teacher was, found murdered on Baturday night in a bedroom adjoining the studio which be occupied in Queen Street. He had been battered on the left side of the' head and it is thoug'ht he had been dead for a considerable time before he was discovered. He was:— FREDERICK EDNEY, aged about 60, a singie man.Several aspects of the ease were baffling to the poliee. Little was known about Edney. He had no i'elatives to give details of h|is previous life, it was not known how many pupils he had or who they were, his books provided little in the way of usefid inform ; ation and there was tio apparent motive for the murder. It wa,c not even know definitely at what time the vietim had been killec although it was thought that the Sody, which was dressed in rougi working clothes, had beeti lying in the room since Friday night. Further mystery is added to the crime by the fact that the front door of die premises was locked and the key was placed under the mat in '•ccordance with Edney 's practiee ••vben he was expeeting visitors. The premises in which the hody was "ound Were the entire top floor nf a building a few doors up Queen St.reet "roffi the Town Hall. There was_ a 'arge dance floor, a women 's drnssine ■nnm, bedroom and small kitehen. A oiano stood in an aleove. The quarters ;n which Edney lived were well finrnisbed. Mr. Edney 's body was discovered at 7.30 p.m. on Saturday by Mr. W. J. Adams, of Green Lane, an instruetor at he studio, and Mr. H. Quintal, of kingsland, a dancing pupil. They had gone there by appointment to. go to the pietures with Mr. Edney and the first indication they had that anything was amiss, was blooch on the writing desk at the head of the stairs leading from the street.' There was more blood in the kitehen and from there they saw the body lying full lensth on the bed. When he found that Edney was dead Mr. Adams telephoned the police and a party of detectives, lead' by Mr. J Walsh, inspector in eharge of detectives at Auckland, immediatelv went to the scene.' Mr. S. G: Hall, Superintendent of Police at Auckland, also s'isited the dead man's flat. A rpost mortem examination Was condueted b.f Dr. W. Gilmour, pathologist, who also -ixamined the scene of the crime. The results of his exaipipations were not nwailable today. 'VA , Further police inspections of the premises in Queen Street were made ihis afternoon. It 'was stated that a very close examination would be necessary and the work might take two days. During that time the studio and living quarters would remain under guard. Although Mr. Edney had lived in Auckland for about 19 ye^'Sj eomparatively little was known of his private life or his business affairs. He had few close friends and virtually no eonfidants^ In addition, he .had no interests outside his work. Even Mr. Adams, who had known him since 1934 and who had worked with him for the last 11 years, did not know how many pupils he had or what their names and addresses were.

Definite details of Mr. Edney 's background whick had been established, are that he was an Englishman and had no relatives in New Zealand, that he had come' to Auckland from Timaru in 1934 and had opened a dance studio in Swanson Street, and that he moved to Qneen Street in 'J 1938. Apart from those few facts, he had been singularly reticent about discussing his life before he caine to Auckland. "Although I knew him for many years and although he visited by home practically every weekend, I did not know much .about his previous life, ' ' said Mr. Adams. "I knew that his t'ather had worked for Waterlow and Sons, printers, in England, and that he had a brother. He also said that his relatives were dead. Apart «from that we knew surprisingly little and he was the type of man into> whose affairs one could not pry. "Mr. Quintal and I went to the studio on Friday night at about 6.30 and there were two private pupils, a boy and a girl, .there," said Mr-. Adams. "Mr. Edney, who was then dressed in a pullover and trousers, said he would continue work until about 8 p.m. We asked him to go to the trots with us on Saturday but he said he would clean the studio in the morning and rest in the afternoon. He had had a. hectic week with examination, s and was very tired. However, we were to go to the pietures with him on Saturday night and arranged to meet him at the studio. I do not know how man}' private pupils were to go to him ou Friday night after WA 1 A.f t.

"When Mr. Quintal ancl I called on Saturday night the door leading from the street to the staii's was locked but whenever he was expeeting me he used to leave the key under the mat so that I eould Jet myself in," said Mr. Adams. "The key was there on this oecasion and we went up the stairs, At the head of the stairs I saw blood stains on the writing desk. it was literally covered with them," said Mr. Adams. "At first I thought a bottle of red ink had been upset. Papers in the desk were disarranged and it looked to me as though : there had been a struggle. . "A light was burning in the kitehen and we went in there, ' ' Mr. Adams coni tinued. "On the, table we found a huge pool of blood and it was then, looking from the kitehen through the bedroom door, that I saw Fred's feet on the bed. We went into the bedroom and saw that his -f ace was in a battered cohdition.

He had a blaek efe and there was blood all over his face. I went across to the bed to waken him and touched his forehead. He was quite_ cold. I immediatelv phoned the police from there and they arrived shortly afterwards. "The drawers of the tall boy in the bedroom had been pulled out and two or three of them were on the floor, ' ' said Mr. Adames. "That was unusuai for Fred was a very tidy man. I did not notice any other details of the room and I cannot remember how ho was dressed when we found him." Apart from his pupils and r very few friends, Mr. Edney had virtually no callers at niglits, said Mr. Adams. He had just passed the British Association of Teachers of Dancing examinations in modern ballroom, Latin-American and, oi d time dancing.