Coast searched for Karla

Press, 8 June 1989, Page 9

Coast searched for Karla

PA Wellington Information given to the police investigating the abduction of the Taita girl, 13-year-old Karla Cardno, sparked an extensive search of the coastline around Eastbourne yesterday. The police are now asking people who were in the area on Saturday, May 27 — the day after Karla was abducted — to contact them.

The head of the inquiry, Detective Senior-Sergeant John Marsden, last evening confirmed the search had been undertaken after information was given to the police by the public. Earlier yesterday he had denied this, saying the police had simply thought the area should

be searched as a matter of routine. Seventy police recruits joined the inquiry team to search a gravel track at the end of Muritai Road, which leads to the Baring Head lighthouse.

Detective Senior-Ser-geant Marsden said nothing of interest had been found during the search, but it would be continued today. He said the search had not been initiated by a tip-off to the police confidential hotline but by information received during inquiries. He would not comment any further.

He said searchers aimed to cover about 15km. Most of this had been covered yesterday, and today’s search would be smaller. An inflatable boat had

also been used to search along the . coast. The police had considered bringing in a helicopter, but had decided not to because of poor weather. The search area includes the beach alongside the gravel track, the hills above and a nearby rubbish tip. Detective Senior-Ser-geant Marsden said the police wanted to talk to anyone who had gone along the track, a popular walking spot, on the Saturday after Karla’s abduction. Some people had cycled down the track and people might have driven down it. The police wanted to talk to those people, as well as surfers who were out on the sea that day. Residents spoken to by

the “Dominion” yesterday said many people used the track, especially at week-ends. A gate at the beginning of the road was rarely locked so cars could usually drive down there at any time, they said. In another development in the 12-day-old investigation, Detective SeniorSergeant Marsden said a woman who rang the police hotline yesterday claimed she had found a black and white jacket at Speedy’s Reserve in Kelson, near Taita.

Karla was wearing such a jacket the night she was abducted. Detective Senior-Sergeant Marsden said the call might have been a hoax, but he asked the woman to telephone police again if she had in fact found the jacket.