MISSING GIRL’S BODY

Hokitika Guardian, 13 July 1931, Page 3

MISSING GIRL’S BODY

DUG UP AT KILBIRNIE. (By Telegraph-—Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON; July 11. Speaking 'to a reporter, the father of the missing' girl, Mr G. Symons, said that his daughter left home in March of this year. He did not know where she intended to go, but - a week or two later Mrs Symons received a letter frbm her stating that she was staying with friends and was quite all right, and had prospects of getting a 'situation. Except on one occasion when Mr Symons’s youngest daughter spoice to the missing girl near the Terrace school about a week be ore her disappearance the family had had no other communication tyith her. , WELLINGTON, July t2. After digging operations had b.en carried on at Kilbirnie since Wednesday last, the body Which is believed •'to be that of Phyllis Ava Symons, aged 17‘ 'years, who had been missing for more than a fortnight;' was recovered this (Sunday) afternoon. It was found buried in the'spoil that had been dumped from a new tunnel near Kilbirnie. The police, acting on conclusions that they had arrived at by chance remarks which came to their ears oil Wednesday, began to investigate the area at Kilbirnie, where a considerable depth of soil had alreay been placed for the purpose of making a new park. Had this clue not been obtained, the body, which was then at a depth of several feet, would have been buried beneath many more feet of soil. The digging was carried on by a gang of eitlity unemployed men, who were aided by a mechanical navvy for three days. To-day (Sunday) the body was formally identified. CROWD ON THE SCENE. Large crowds of morbid-minded spectators have, at different times, watched the digging operations at Kilbirnie, and the news spread quickly when the body of the missing girl was discovered.: While the police awaited the arrival of a pathologist, the crowd increased to about 600. They were standing on the adjoining fences and points of vantage. A post-mortem :will be held to-mor-row. Till then no charge .will be made. An arrest has been made.