GHASTLY CRIME

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 86, 2 December 1931, Page 2

GHASTLY CRIME

POLICE THEORIES BONES OF CHARRED BODY ARE FOUND BY DOGS. MURDER IN. LONELY SPOT. . , BUNGENDORE, Saturday. The human bones found in the ashes of a fierce fire, kindled by some unknown hand, in deserted country seven miles from here, are the grisly relics of a crime committed within the last three or four weeks. The recent nature of the deed was established beyond doubt by. police investigations early to-day. In the first light of dawn, Inspector Mathieson and the xnen under him, reinforced by detectives from Sydney, "Vyere at the scene. They found themselves eonfranted with a problem j baffling because of its..lack of data i on which to work. j The pea-rifle barrel found in the centre of the grim heap is the one derfinite piece of evidence in police possession, and it is not regarded very hopefully. Except for this it seems that a murderer and his vietim came unnoticed into Bungendore. The murderer, by some strange means, lured his companion to a spot in the foothills miles from any habitation, miles from any road, shot him (or her, whether it was man or wonian is not known), built a huge fire, flung the body it, and mysteriously disappeared. Did Ee KnoAv? The isolated paddock in which the bones were found is visited only occasionally by the owner, Mr. Bernard Cunningham. It has been his custom to go .there perhaps once . in two months to round up sheep. His main property is much nearer to the town- ' ship. Did the murderer count on . this? v ... Even on Friday, Mr. Cunningham would not have seen anything amiss, . but for the unusual behaviour of his dogs. Heedless of his whistles, they dashed off, and when they refused to fol- ■ Iow, he went back to investigate. He found them sniffing at bones in the charcoal of what had been a bonfire. Wondering who could have been burning a sheep on his property, he called the dogs off ,'and they cringed and whimpered uneasily. Clearly they knew that what they knew that what they -had found was not the remains of any sheep. Loolcing closer, he saw, with a shock or horror, that the bones were human. Mystery Tree. Wood for the bonfire — and apparently a great deal had been used — was gathered from close-by. The fire had been made on a clear space strewn with fallen limbs of trees that had long before been ringbarked. But there is a puzzling feature fpr which so far the police have no explanation. A large dead tree has fallen within a few feet of the bones. And it has been burned down. That is the amazing thing. Whether beiora or after the body was burned, ifc .s impossible to say. Obviously someone built a fire round the base of the tree, for there are no other signs of fire about, and the tree was I too far from the big fire to catch ali r nt from it. j Why Burn It? The theory that has suggested it~ self is that the person who burned the body also set fire to the tree. But with what purpose It was standing on one of the ridges leadipg towards where the fire was. Did the guhty person h^pe to fall the tree direJ.I/ across the remains of the fire, thus hopi ng more effectdally to cover up any possible traces that mlght Pe left of the crime? It is a fantastlc suppgestion, but so far nc other has offered itself. xhen there is the pea-rifle. Why was it thrown into the blaze? Anyone must have known that the barrel must remain in the ashes, If m normal senses, the person would su-ol/ have realised that if the rifle had been thrown into one of che deep ravines, such as, for instance, opens up a short distance below v.here the bones were found, there would be practica.lly no chance of its ovcr being found, and if it were, no partieular signifieance would be atlached to it. Thc barrel is that of an ordinary 22 calibr : single shot rifle, such as is carriei by numbers of people in the bush, and it is not anticipated that it will render any useful clue. Police are hopeful, however, • that when the ashes are sifted and a thorough investigation is made, something will be discovered that will enable them to i lentify the remains. Weary Yigil. It is improbable that the first gleam of daylight will ever again be ,a more welcome sight to Constable J. Donoghue than it was this morning. Stationed besides the ashes, he had maintained an all-night watch in the bitter cold of a heavy frost beside his own fire. He Was relieved when Ssrgeant C. Lang guided the inspector and detectives to the spot. Although the heavy rains of the last week or so have made his task practically hopeless, the black-track-er, the inspector brought with him from Coonia made a thorough search of the vicinity. Among the possible theories engaging the attention is that the vietim of the crime was a rabbiter. The country is overrun with rabbits, and a number of persons have been over it fairly recently, trappin'g and shooting.