Inquiry into murder narrows

Press, 26 July 1986, Page 9

Inquiry into murder narrows

Detectives are narrowing down the possibilities in the investigation of the murder of Dale Puru, whose bashed and stabbed body was found near Waimairi Beach last Sunday morning. Detective Inspector Roger Carson, heading the inquiry, said that the police now knew what Mr Puru, aged 21, was doing until midnight on Saturday.

He had been “moving around; like everyone else on a Saturday night,” said Mr Carson.

"That is what is keeping us busy at the moment the fact that there were a large number of people

who saw him at various times on Saturday night It takes a long time to find them and interview them.”

The police have also narrowed the number of possible motives down to two.

Mr Carson said that there was no evidence of a gang versus gang confrontation, nor that it had been a random killing. He would not comment on the possibility that it resulted from a dispute within one gang. However, it was clear from an examination of the scene that there was more than one offender, said Mr Carson.

Mr Puru, also known as Dale Kingi, was found wearing just jeans and boots. The police .believe they know what he had been wearing above the waist, but cannot yet say why it was removed. It was not central to the motive, as in, for example, wearing the wrong gang patch, said Mr Carson.

There is still no sign of the murder weapon, although a knife was found in the general area late yesterday morning. A C. 1.8. spokesman * said later that it was “just one of many things we are looking at.”

A search with a metal detector earlier had turned up only about 100 discarded cans. Mr Carson said the police were still “more than interested” in a Chrysler Valiant car thought to have been used to take Mr Puru to the beach after the initial attack on him. The movements of the car on Saturday night were still being pieced together, although forensic reports on the car had been very positive, he said.