MISSING REMAINS FOUND

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22400, 13 May 1938, Page 10

MISSING REMAINS FOUND

♦ Second Suitcase In Picton Harbour DIVER SUCCEEDS IN SEARCH Early Resumption Of Inquest (pBKSrf ASSOCIATION TKI-ECJRAW.) BLENHEIM, May 12. In 40 feet of water right off .the outer end of the Picton wharf, a diver this afternoon recovered the missing remains of the victim of the suitcase tragedy, whose headless and legless trunk_ was discovered last Saturday. With the successful conclusion of another stage in the extensive police activity that has been sustained since the find of a week ago, it will no doubt be possible to establish definitely the identity of the victim. Examination of the head recovered this afternoon discloses that it bears marks indicating that it was battered with some blunt instrument. Whether these injuries were substantially the cause of death only examination by a competent expert can prove. It is stated that one or more of the stab wounds found on the body in the region of the heart could have been fatal, and it is believed that the recent examination by Dr. P. P. Lynch, Government Pathologist, would have disclosed whether they were inflicted before or after death. Every importance attaches to the opinion Dr. Lynch forms regarding the head wounds, taken in conjunction with the chest stabs, in the direction of reconstructing the means by which the man believed to be Edwin Armstrong died. The remains found to-day were contained in a dark brown fibre suitcase identical in most respects, including the white cord lashings, with the suitcase recovered five days

ago. The diver was Mr T. K. Wineera, who was placed at the disposal of the Police Department by the Wellington Harbour Board. He arrived with assistants and equipment on the Tamahine last night, and worked from a punt moored at the end of the wharf. The diver searched for two and a half hours in the morning fruitlessly, and he was down nearly two hours in the afternoon before the suitcase was found. When it was hauled up by a line attached by the diver, detectives soon satisfied themselves that it was the object they were seeking. The punt was then towed to the landing jetty and the remains removed to the morgue in a police car. A preliminary examination was made by Dr. E. B. W. Smyth, of Picton, who has not yet reported to the police.

The Coroner will view the remains to-morrow. The inquest will be resumed at an early date at Picton, when evidence will be given by Dr. Lynch. ___________