FOUND SHOT

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 November 1944, Page 4

FOUND SHOT

FLIGHT SERGEANT AND WIFE AUCKLAND, November 3. An airman and his wife were found dead in a bedroom of their home at Ardmore Road, Herne Bay, this morning. They both had bullet wounds in the head and q .22 sporting rifle was lying beside the .airman. The discovery was made by the father of the airman when he called at the house about 10 o’clock and it is believed that the tragedy occurred several hours before. The dead persons are: —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 Flight Sergeant and Mrs. Carlsen’s three young children 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 childrens 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 and there was a bullet wound in his head. The rifle was lying against the bed by his feet. They had been dead for some hours. Carlsen’s 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. The children were still all in their rooms when Carlsen arrived this morning and they were unaware of any indication of the tragedy. The police found no sign of a struggle hayingtaken place in the house, and there was no disorder in the bedroom. ' Carlsen had served in the Air Force for about four years. He 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.