Police search at lonely house

Press, 5 July 1978, Page 3

Police search at lonely house

■’A Hamilton Rifle cartridges and min:te particles of what is beieved couid be human flesh iave been taken for positive identification from a deserted farmhouse at the centre of a Waikato homicide inquiry. The inquiry was mounted at Kiwitahi. near Morrinsville, on Monday and although no body has been found, the police are searching for a man believed shot during a drug-deal meeting at a deserted Kiwitahi farmhouse. The police will not confirm this but Detective Inspector P. H. Berryman, in charge of the inquiry, said last evening that they were searching for a factory worker, Grant Thomas Fqrd, aged 23, and his 1972 gold Holden Kingswood car. "We are searcning creeks and rivers in the area for any sign of him but are also trying to find his vehicle,” said Inspector Berryman. Mr Ford was reported missing late on Sunday and was last seen last Wednesday evening. Sources say he left his flat for a meeting at the farmhouse in Starkey Road, Kiwitahi, where the police yesterday picked up the cartridges and suspected particles of fiesn. Inspector Berryman

declined to confirm whether the cartridges found were from a .303 rifle; but earlier, sources asserted that the person who died at the Starkey Road farmhouse had been shot With a .303. The farmhouse Is on a property owned by Mr and Mrs B. Mitchell, who live in another house on the farm. Mr Mitchell said he remembered hearing "four or five shots” some time last week but did not take any notice of them, and said that he did not recognise them as coming from the direction of the deserted farmhouse. About 40 policemen have been assigned to the case today, including a contingent brought from Auckland. Inspector Berryman said that a helicopter had been called in to help In the search and an Army field kitchen had been set up to provide meals for those working on the case. “It Is raining and cold here; and that is not helping things,” said Inspector Berryman last evening. He denied rumours that divers had been used in the searcn. The police are working from a base m Starkey Road, Kiwitahi, although Inspector Berryman said that “some lines of inquiry” were being carried out further afield in Waikato.