TRAGIC DISCOVERY

Evening Star, Issue 25324, 4 November 1944, Page 8

TRAGIC DISCOVERY

AIRMAN AND WIFE FOUND SHOT CHILDREN IN HOUSE UNAWARE (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Nov. 3. Further details have been received of the Heme Bay tragedy, in which an airman and his wife were found dead, with head wounds, in their residence at Ardmore road this morning. The deceased persons were:— Flight-sergeant Irving Fairfax Carlsen, R.N.Z.A.F., aged 32. Mary Emma Carlsen, aged 26. When he arrived at the house to see his son, and daughter-in-law, Mr J. R. Carlsen noticed that the milk bottles and the morning paper had not been taken in. Two of the three young children of Flightsergeant and Mrs Carlsen were standing at the window of their bedroom in front of the house, and one of them told Mr Carlsen that his parents were not awake yet. Mr Carlsen opened the front door, and went into the parents' bedroom opposite the children's room. His daughter-in-law was lying on the bed fully clothed, and there was a bullet wound in her head. Flight-sergeant Carlsen was lying on the floor near the foot of the bed. He was clothed in his Air Force uniform, t and there was a bullet wound in his head. The riile waa lying against the bed by his feet. They had been dead for some hours. The Carlsens' seven-year-old son and two younger daughters were put to bed by their mother on Thursday night after being given their tea. Two of the children went to_ bed in the front bedroom, and the third went to an adjoining .room. Th* children were still in their rooms when Mr Carlsen arrived this morning, and they were unaware of any indication of the tragedy. The police found no sign of a struggle having taken place in the house, and there was no disorder in the bedroom.

Flight-sergeant Carlsen had served in the Air Force for about four years, and was in Canada for two years, after which he returned to New Zealand for a month. He then went to the Pacific, where he served as a wireless operator and air gunner, and returned home only about two weeks ago.