THE BURWOOD MURDER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3655, 21 June 1927, Page 2

THE BURWOOD MURDER.

NO ARREST YET

Christchurch, June 19

No arrest has yet been made for the murder of Gwendoline Scarff, who was found dead in some scrub at Burwood on Wednesday afternoon.

It is assumed that the murder took place that day, but it is stated that the police still seek information as to where the girl spent Tuesday night.

She left a hotel where she had been staying on Tuesday, deposited her heavy luggage at the tramway depot, and apparently took with her a. night dress and toilet requisites to spend the night elsewhere. To-day a party of 20 police made a thorough search of the scrub at the scene of the murder, but without finding anything likely to help investigations. Occasionally men have camped in the scrub for days or weeks, and the scorch was for traces of such peoplo. The police, however, found none.

In any case the murderer’s weapon was a motor spanner, and the general belief is that the murderer either had a motor-car or had the use of one.

NEW THEORY OF MURDER

Christchurch, June 20

The only fact brought to light today concerning the murder of Gwendoline Scarff at Burwood was that the scene of the murder was in full view of two telegraph linesmen working on poles nearby for the whole of Tuesday mrning. This combined with the fact that the nearest neighbour heard no screams, is fairly conclusive evidence that the murder did not take place in daylight. Owing to rigor mortis not having set in when the body was found, it was assumed the girl had been done to death an hour or two before. The possibility is that the girl was left by her assailant not dead, hut dying, and that death occurred some time after the attack.

The poliee, it is understood, are working on this theory.