UNSOLVED MURDERS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 360, 15 February 1937, Page 3

UNSOLVED MURDERS.

THREE CASES IN N.Z

Baffled Brains Of Whole Police Force.

. Nearly nine months have gone by and the murder riddle of the Waihou Valley, in which Ernest Severin Nelson, a farmer, aged 55, was the victim, is still unsolved. With the fast passage of time, there now seems little prospect of the mystery ever being solved, and it will probably be added to the list of unsolved New Zealand crimes. Three outstanding murder mysteries have baffled the detective brains of the country in the past foui- years. On October 15, 1933 —the day of the Ruawaro murders —James Hunter Blair, an Auckland taxi driver, was found battered to death in his cab, which was parked on a lonely road at Mount Roskill. On November 17, 1933, Donald Fraser, licensee of the Racecourse Hotel, Riccarton, near Christchurch, was found by his wife In bed, shot through the chest. On the evening of June 9, 1936, Ernest Nelson was found lying dead on the drive leading to his. 1 farm with a gaping gunshot Wound in his back. Relentless and determined police inquiry was carried out in each instance, but the slayers have never been discovered. In not one of the three crimes has the weapon used been found, and therein probably lies the explanation of why the mysteries have never been solved. In the Riccarton murder and the killing C? Nelson at Waihou shotguns were the murderers’ weapons, but in the killing of blair, the taxi driver, some blunt instrument must have caused the terrible head injuries which led to his death.

Elaborate Inquiry,

Police inquiry into the murder ot Nelson has not been abandoned, but the search for the murderer Is not now as intensive as it was in the early stages of the inquiry. One man alone, Detective F. J. Nalder, of Whangarei, is no* 1 responsible for the inquiry. Elaborate measures were taken by the police in their efforts to track the slayer of Nelson. Trained and experienced detectives were rushed to the, scene from Auckland, including Detective H. C. Murch, who had just returned after a course of’ study at Scotland Yard. Several shotguns were seized by the police and painstaking tests carried out by the police ballistics expert, Mr G. G. Kelly, but the weapon that was used in the killing of Nelson has never been found.

Shot in the back at close range, Nelson was found slumped by the roadside one dark winter’s night. He had been down to his gate to collect

his mail, which was clutched in his hand. On the surface it appeared a reasonably easy crime to clear up, but when no motive could be established and no weapon found, the mystery deepened and became increasingly difficult to solve.

Maoris Closely Questioned,

Weeks and weeks of inquiry work was carried out by a large force of detectives under the direction of Inspector O’Hara, of Whangarei. Men with wide experience in the solving of murder mysteries were dispatched at various times to the scene of the murder. These included Detective Sergeant A.. G. McHugh, who won fame for his brilliant work in solving the Pukekawa murder, and whose efforts were largely responsible for sending Thorne to the gallows. Close questioning of dozens of Maoris in the district was carried out and the police were aided in their inquiries' by the 19-year-oWI Maori wife of the murdered man. | Gradually the prospect of solution diminished, and one by one the detectives left Waihou until there- remains now only Detective Nalder in charge. Murders such as these three are never officially written off the l police files as "unsolved.” Although efforts are not concentrated by any one officer on the Blair or the Fraser murders at the present time, an unofficial search continues and every detective in the land is always on the look-out for any crumb of information that might present itself as' a clue.