ROTOWARU TRAGEDY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 12092, 3 November 1933, Page 7

ROTOWARU TRAGEDY

LAKEY’S BODY EXPECTED TO BE FOUND. MYSTERY WILL THEN BE SOLVED. With the double murder theory endorsed by the ‘discovery of a. -pea-x-ifJo and shotgun in a swampy creek on a. nearby farm, the search for the missing man, Lakey, is being continued with more vigor than before in marshlands net far from the Lakey homestead af Rotowaro. One, double-barrel shotgun has definitely been identified as the property of Lakey, but the ownership of tiie .pen-rifle 'round near the shotgun has not- yet been established. It Ts believed that the pea-rifle is the property of a friend of Lakey’s whose custom it was to visit Hie farm on shooting expeditions. Both of these •guns are behoved to have been taken fjoiu the Lakey’s house by the suspected killer on the fatal Sunday evening.

The ,second pea-rifle was collected bv the police, as an exhibit early in fhe inquiry and, with the second shotgun also collected, is among many olu-r exhibits now held in Auckland RECONSTRUCTION OF CRIME. The reconstruction °i the crime °n (lie double murder theory—and the police, in view of recent happenings, are convinced that this deduction is correct —leads tho invest'gators over a twisted trail. The finding of the two nuns m a swamp shatters the slightest suggestion that Lakey committed suicide. Wh’cli of the unfortunate Lakey s was killed first can lie determined only in theory. Tt is possible that Mrs. Lakey was first to meet her death, probably by a blow on the chin and suffocation. It seems Ukely that the suspected murderer then concealed himself behind a small lean-to and fired a shot at Mr. Lakey as ho walked in the farmyard gate after milking. Blood is believed to have been found on the lean-to, a section of which is bong testrd in A ncklau:!. Wheel marks of an old broken-down dray led down the paddock to a nearby fence. Here blood i.s thought to have been found. it. would have been possible at this point to lift the. body over tho fence. Sledge marks on the other side of tho fence It'd Detectives Sneddon and T. A. Allsoup a L'ttle way, an,] then disappeared. It was at this stage that the trail was lost. Although the two guns thought to have neon taken from the Lakey farm house were concealed by some unknown person in. a swampy creek, it i.s pointed out that their concealment may have been an after-thought on the part of (lie suspected slayer, and it >is still thought possible that the body may have been taken man.'’ miles away. However, great hope is held by, the police of finding the body wi-thin a dav or two.

U OTOR, CA R. CARRYING SACK ? A Rotowaro midwife, Mrs. Scurr, is reported to have seen a car with a sack in the buck travelling along flic main Rotowaro Road shortly alter four o’clock on the morning following the tragedy a.n,-d defectives arc inquiring into the story. One of the many theories advanced is that Lakey,, planning to flee from the 'district, concealed the two guns himself, hut that supposition, In. the light of recent developments, seems totally remote. Police officers ate convinced that as soon as the body of Lakey is discovered the mystery of Rotowaro will be solved. Their hopes arc high. They remember that a decade ago it took just 11 weeks tp find the body of Oney May hew in' dense scrub and gorse outside Oamain. MAORI SUPERSTITION. Maori superstition in the district is strange. After the death of King Mnhutn at Waahi the Maoris said that the lluntly district would have no luck for a month. It. seems almost that their superstition is correct, foV nm6h has happened in iiuntJ.v during the past few weeks. After the discovery of the dead body -of Airs. Christobel Lakey and tl'e strange disappearance of her husband a.f: Ruawaio, there followed the "disappearance of Air. F. Korapper, whose body was later.found in the Waikato River, _ Before that the Ifuntly Anglican Church was burnt to the ground and a week ago there happened the tragic level crossing smash in which Constable J. Shields was killed and Constable D. Robertson was gravely injured.