LETTER REVEALS MURDERER’S MIND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 82, 28 June 1927, Page 7

LETTER REVEALS MURDERER’S MIND

CHRISTCHURCH TRAGEDY JEALOUSY THE MOTIVE (Special to THE SUN.) CHRISTCHURCH, Monday. The letter to his sister, posted by Frederick Charles Davis only two hours before the double tragedy in Manchester Street, reached its destination to-day. It bears out the supposition that the murder of his wife, and Davis’s subsequent suicide, was the outcome of jealousy. Before he carried out his intention to murder his 19-year-old wife, Edith May Davis, Frederick Charles Davis sat down before midnight on Saturday and wrote a letter to his sister in Christchurch. He then posted the letter, which was delivered to-day. The missive clearly indicates what Davis meant to do. It expresses his regret for his contemplated course of action, and the distress it would cause to relatives. He said he was half-mad with shock at making a certain discovery concerning his wife's relationship with a man named “Dick.” He spoke of her visit to Timaru with a girl friend while Davis himself was in Auckland undergoing naval training. Two other letters were enclosed with this letter. One was from Mrs. Davis to a girl friend and the other, from “Dick.” referred to his attachment for Mrs. Davis. The letter written by Davis was obviously penned while the man was in a greatly distressed frame of mind, but mastered by cold intention. It was not the letter of a man under~the influence of drink. He even added a postscript.