Sydney’s Park Murders

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7062, 23 January 1933, Page 7

Sydney’s Park Murders

MAN NOW CHARGED WITH TWO CRIMES

.THIRD STILL UNACCOUNTED FOB.

United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph —Copyright Keceivod Sunday, 9.50 p.m. SYDNEY, Jan. 22. The police have laid another charge jo£ murder against Eric Ronald Craig ■in connection with the death of Bessie O'Connor whose body was found in National Park in mid-December. Craig, who is already in custody in connection with the death of May Miller in Queen '3 Park on December 9, has been remanded to Monday, tho 30th. The body of May Miller, aged 30, was discovered by Bernard Green, aged 14 years, of Fitzgerald street, fWaverley, who was walking through a natural hollow hidden by trees at the north-eastern corner of Queen's Park, near the foot of Victoria street, Saturday morning, December 10. He iran to the Waverley police station ielose by to report what ho had seen. Detective-Sergeant Power, Detective Campbell and other police found the body lying on its face. The head was pointing downhill, and the body had .evidently slipped somo distance down the slope until it came to Test. A .train pf blood showed that tho murderer had committed the crimo under a large poral tree, and had dragged the body uphill to hide it in dense lantana bushes. A beret was lying 10 feet from the body. A hole through the beret showed that at least one of the blows had been struck while it was on the victim’s head, and there was evidence that the murderer had removed the jclotking after killing tho woman. A much-worn green dress was suspended by thorns in a lantana bush. The dead woman’s patched shoes and a pair of Blockings wore scattered on tho grass. The skull had been broken in by two ihard blows from behind. There was no sign of a struggle in the grass. The ■detectives who investigated the murder were at a loss to find a motive for the prime other than that of a violent quarrel. They ascertained that the murdered woman had a police record. They thought sho might have made gome onemies during her lifetime. The detectives also turned their attention to the murder of Hilda White in Centennial Park in July on tho supposition that both murders were committed by tho same person. They came jto the conclusion that tho murders were different in many aspects and (that the same person was not responsible for both. It is believed that the murder of May Miller was committed .with a stone, but a long search in Queen's Park failed to discloso a stone pr any other weapon that had caused [the woman's death. The wounds were nil triangular in shapo and could have been caused by the edge of a stone. Detective-Sergeant Power had some difficulty in identifying the woman, but he was assisted by experts who found her fingerprints among the records at the Criminal Investigation Branch.