SEARCH ENDED

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 11, 13 July 1931, Page 10

SEARCH ENDED

MISSING GIRL'S FATE

BODY FOUND AT KILBIRNIE

BUEIED DEEP IN SPOIL

After a, search which has lasted for some days, tho body of Phyllis Avis Symons, aged 17, who had been missing from the placo whero she was living in 'Adelaide road since 25th or 26th June, was found by tho polico buried. J in the spoil on tho Town Belt at Kilbirnie, shortly beforo 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The body, which was fully clothed and covered with a s:iek, was found lying face down on a clay bed. It is estimated that over 16 feet of clay was removed before the body was uncovered. The policy beliove that it had been buried since about 26th June, the day M which the girl was thought to have jFsappeared. With the discovery of tho body the Police Department has completed one of the biggest digging tasks ever undertaken by the Force in New Zealand. POLICE SUSPICION. Sinister circumstances were first reported to surround the girl's disappearance last Wednesday, but since Monday or Tuesday of last week the Police Department has made exhaustive inquiries for any evidence that might have thrown light on the mystery. The police had reason to suspect that the girl had met an untimely end, and that her body had been disposed of, and as the result of information they had received a party of detectives, under the supervision of Sub-Inspector Ward and an engineer, commenced digging operations last Wednesday in the. spoil which had been taken from tho hillsides on. the Town Belt, Kilbirnio, for the purpose of making a recreation ground. The work was carried on continuously, and at one time there wero as many as 80 men working on tho job. 2000 TONS SHITTED. It ia estimated that from 20th June ttntil the timo wli the digging was first commenced, between 2500 and 3000 tons of spoil had been deposited on the place .where the body was buried and in the vicinity, so it can be readily seen that the task undertaken by tho Police Department has been no easy one.. SubInspector Ward said yesterday that since the operations began nearly 2000 tons of clay and rubble had been Shifted. WORK HAMPERED. ' The wet weather last weok and tho soggy, clayey nature of the spoil seriously hampered the men in their ■work. Seepage water from a largo Kiound of spoil below which they were ■working and a swamp in the vicinity Biade the conditions very unpleasant, and added greatly to the difficulties. At times the men were working in water almost up to their waists. A mechanical Bavvy was brought into use last Thursday. In order to speed up tho work, Sunclay leave was cancelled in the Police Force yesterday, and those men who were not supposed to bo on duty wero detailed to proceed with tho work of digging. DISCOVERY OF THE BODY. •Interviewed by a "Post" representative, Sub-Inspector Ward said that the body was actually uncovered shortly before 3 p.m., although it was first seen at' 2.45 p.m. A short time before a police official exposed a portion of a sack whenhe took a shovelful of clay away, but not much importanco was attached to this, because in the courso of the digging many sacks had been found. After further investigation, however, it was seen that tho sack covered a body. The actual discovery was wade by Constable Tomlinson. Dr.'P. P. Lynch, pathologist at the Wellington Hospital, was sent for, and after he had made a brief examination the body was removed to tho morgue. Sub-Inspector Ward said that for jbwo days the men had been working within a foot of where tho body lay, but the lie of tho ground prevented it bping reached earlier. It was necessary to remove the clay in layers, three feet at a time, and had tho work not been done systematically tho whole faco of the. mound of Bpoil directly above might have fallen down. "If anyono wanted to bury a body, it was tho best possible place," said tho Sub-Inspector. Largo numbers of people visited the «ceno yesterday. In tho early part of the afternoon there were as many as 200 people looking on, and when the body wa3 uncovered it is estimated that there woro between 500 and 600 present POLICE WORKED WELL. "It is wonderful tho way the men have worked," said a polico official this morning. "Many of them are not used to manual labour, such as they were called upon to do, but despite blisters on their hands aud the unpleasant weather conditions, they did tho work ■willingly-and thoroughly." Sub-Inspector Ward said that 'credit was duo to Detectives W. R. Murray, N. BayJis, F. Hayhurst, and T. Hall for the manner in which they had carried out their investigations. City Council officials and relief workers had also Tendered valuable assistance. Measurements and photographs of the locality were .taken by members of the Polico Department this morning. A post-mortem examination of the body {was mado to-day.