N.Z. POLICE ACTIVE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20510, 11 January 1935, Page 1

N.Z. POLICE ACTIVE.

Clue to Albury Murder Followed Up. WELLINGTON INVESTIGATIONS. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Cop , c'fbt. (Received January 11, 11.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The police here are still pursuing inquiries into the murder of an unknown girl some months ago at Albury. The initials on the towel found wrapped around the girl’s body, “ R.C.0.” were being investigated in Wellington, New Zealand, where it is reported that similar initials have been used on materials washed at a laundry in that city. Since early in September when the murder was committed the police have conducted a wide inquiry extending through Australia and New Zealand. With the publication of photographs and descriptions of the girl together with the New South Wales police appeal for assistance from New Zealand, six or eight persons in Christchurch alone made statements to the police concerning missing girls who were reported to be similar in t}'pe and appearance to the Albury victim. Superintendent D. J. Cummings stated this morning that all the Christ church and Canterbury inquiries had been completed. The identity of the missing girls had been established or the girls had been located in other parts of New Zealand or abroad. The Christchurch police had been unable to assist ’the New South Wales police in establishing the identity of the murdered girl. No special inquiries had been made in Christchurch regarding the initials “ R.C.0.” found on the towel. That was a new aspect of the case so far as Christchurch was concerned. On September 2 the body of a girl was found in a culvert on the Howlong Road, four miles from Albury. The forehead was cruelly battered xn and the legs and lower part of the abdomen had been charred to a black mass. The body was clothed in white and yellow pyjamas. The age of the murdered girl' was placed at between twenty and thirty. For some time the police were concerned with the investigation of a report concerning a young married woman who arrived from New Zealand some weeks before and, who, another woman informed the police, bore a striking resemblance to the victim of the Albury murder. The New South Wales police, in co-operation with the New Zealand police, are still apparently in hopes that thip clue will lead them to establish definitely the identity of the girl. Without this information the police are hampered in their inquiries into the actual murder.