WOMAN KILLED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 161, 10 July 1945, Page 6

WOMAN KILLED

BODY IN WARDROBE

WIDE POLICE SEARCH

Widespread search is being made by the police for the suspected killer of a woman whose body was found in a wardrobe at her home in Otahuhu early last evening. The victim of the killing was

Mrs. Lila Hammond, aged 41, of 2, Seddon Road, Otahuhu, wife of Mr. Roland Hammond, a plumber employed by the Railways Department.

Mrs". Hammond's .body was found huddled up in a small wardrobe and was naked, except for a pair of men's socks on the feet. There was a deep lacerated wound extending right across the front of the throat and smaller cuts on both hands, suggesting that the woman had attempted to protect herseif during a struggle. On a wooden sink in the kitchen close to the water taps, was found a bloodstained, black handled blade razor which is believed to have been used in the crime. The wardrobe in which the body was found stood in a corner of a small bedroom at the rear of the fiveloomed house. Children Playing Outside "When a boarder, Mr. F. R. Gal-1 lagher, arrived at the house about 5.30 p.m. he did not see Mrs. Ham-1 mond, whos< two children, Malcolm, aged 11 and Delma, aged five, were playing outside. The children told him they did not know where their mother was. Mr. Gallagher left the house and returned about 6.30 p.m. when he sent Malcolm to the home of Mrs. Hammond's mother, Mrs. H. Ellis, at 16, Portage Road, Otahuhu, almost a mile away. The boy found that his mother was not at his grandmother's home and had not been seen by her parents all day.

Soon after 7 p.m. Mrs. Ellis, accompanied by her foster son, went to the Hammond's home, where they discovered Mrs. Hammond's body in the wardrobe in a bedroom at the back of the house.

The police were immediately informed and Senior Sergeant J. Daly, in charge at Otahuhu, with Constable Hanna and Dr. Lange arrived at the house at 7.50 p.m. Shortly afterwards Chief Detective J. Walsh, Detective-Sergeant Aplin and Detectives F. Miller and Robinson arrived to commence investigations. Superintendent J. Sweeney, Inspector S. G. Hall, in charge of the detective branch, accompanied by Dr. Walter Gilmour, pathologist at the Auckland Hospital, also visited the house. After Dr. Gilmour had made an examination of the body it was removed to the morgue.

The small room in which the woman's body was found did not show any signs of a struggle. There was no trace of blood, or of any of the clothing worn by the dead woman. The body also showed little blood. Clothina Found Detectives, however, found much bloodstained clothing in other parts of the premises. In a washing bag in the washhouse, which is detached from the house, they found all Mrs. Hammond's clothing, most of which had been cut or torn from her body cither before or after her death. With the clothing in the bag was a small calfskin rug from the bedroom in which the body was found. It was evident that the murderer had cleaned up the room where the crime had been committed and there was no evidence of 'bloodstains in any other room in the house. In a small cupboard in thj bathroom, adjoining the rear bedroom, two blood spattered blankets and a few articles of men's clothing were found. The blankets had previously been on the bed ip the rear bedroom. Mrs. Hammond's body was apparently in the wardrobe when Mr. Gallagher returned home at 5.30 p.m. and entered the house, and also at 3.15 when Malcolm Hammond came home from school, for neither noticed anything amiss. Son's Story , "When I arrived home I saw a man and asked him where mum was," said Malcolm Hammond this morning. "The man told me that mum had gone out. When I first went home and could not find mum I went into the washhouse with another boy and we both fired a few shots with my air-gun. As I was coming out of the washhouse I saw the man coming out of the back door of our house. He was dressed up. It was then I asked him where mum was. A few minutes later I heard the front gate click and the man left. Then when Dick Gallagher came home later I told him I had tfeen told that mum had gone out. I even went into the room at the back of the house but did not notice anything unusual."

Mr. Hammond, who was working at Helensville yesterday, returned to his home last night when told of the tragedy. It is Mr. Hammond's custom to leave for country districts on railway plumbing work every Monday morning, returning home for the week-ends. ' * Seen in Township It is believed that the murder was committed between mid-day and 3.15 p.m. yesterday. Mrs. Hammond was seen in the Otahuhu township about 11 a.m., having gone there to buy a pair of trousers for her son Malcolm. Detectives last evening' found her overcoat and handbag on her bed in the front bedroom. Near the foot of the bed were her silk stockings. As is the custom with many women these days, Mrs. Hammond probably took off her stockings on returning home from the township.

While detectives were still at the house at 10 o'clock this morning a woman arrived with her child on a visit to Mrs. Hammond. She was shocked when told of the tragedy. "Only a few days ago Mrs. Hammond sent word to me asking why I had not been around to see her, so I decided to call this morning," the woman told a reporter. "She was a lovely woman, always ready to help others. She was very happy with her husband and she just lived for her two children. She had a married daughter by a previous marriage and was on good terms with everybody."

The possibility that Mrs. Hammond was the victim of a criminal assault before she was killed, is being investigated by medical experts. Inquest Opened The coroner, Mr. Alfred Addison, opened the inquest concerning Mrs. Hammond's death at the morgue this morning. After evidence of identificalion had been given by her father. Mr. Henry Ellis, a superannuated railway employee; the proceedings were adjourned sine die.