THE OWHANGO TRAGEDY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 227, 7 September 1933, Page 9

THE OWHANGO TRAGEDY

SUSPECT COMMITS SUICIDE. BODY ON EDGE OF PRECIPICE. TAUMARUNUI, Sept. 0. The body of John Grylls, a farm labourer, aged 26, a single man, was found at Owbango at 12.45 to-day by Detective J. Walsh, of Wanganui, in the presence of Inspector Ward, of Wanganui. There was a bullet wound in the deceased's forehead, apparently self-inflicted. Sergeant G. Sivyer, of Taumaiuuui, and about 15 other police were searching the bush in the vicinity at the time the body was found. The body was found on a edge below a precipice in thick scrub and feru, with a rifle alongside. From his condition it appears that Grylls shot himself the same day as he disappeared (Sunday). The location of the body was near the Whakapapa river, about a quarter of a mile from the cowshed in which Miss Rosoman was found murdered. Apparently Grylls went to the edge of the cliff, intending that his body should fall over a drop of 250 feet as he shot himself, but the body remained on the ledge. The spot is inaccessible, and it was only through Detective Walsh noticing that the fern was disturbed in the vicinity that he came across the body, which might have remained hidden in the fern for some time. Grylls, who was suspected of the murder, occupied a hut alongside the cowshed where Miss Rosoman’s body was found, and had not been seen since Saturday night, when he attended a dance at which Miss Rosoman was present. The police had been searching night and day since Sunday in the bush and all roads and bridges have been watched on the assumption that Grylls, who was experienced in the bush, was attempting to make a getaway. The body was brought to Taumarunui this afternoon. Grylls was a prominent footballer locally and a very powerful man. Constable C. Chestnut, of Raetihi, who was searching in the bush for Grylls, had not returned when darkness came to-night, and the police despatched a party this evening to search for him.