Family Thinks Petone Child Was Abducted

Wanganui Chronicle, 9 November 1949, Page 4

Family Thinks Petone Child Was Abducted

WELLINGTON, Last Night (PA). —'The firm belief that a missing Petone child, Elizabeth Ellen Shannon, aged two years has been abducted by some woman is held by the girl's family. The child’s mother, Mrs. W. T. Shannon, who is still in hospital after giving birth to a baby boy last Wednesday, is confident her daughter will be returned. The child would have been attracted by an invitation to a car ride, said members of the family today. It is possible she may have been enticed down a side street, as she would make no fuss of such invitation, they said. Traffic at the time the girl went missing was not heavy. An assiduous search, which began 15 minutes after the child went missing at 6 p.m. on Friday, has not revealed any trace of her. No possibil- ; ity has escaped the attention of the A Petone police, who, with police rein- J forcements from Wellington, and ■ helped by a large number of civilian volunteers, have searched continuously since Friday. Investigations were made of the unusually large heaps of seaweed thrown up on Petone beach by Sunday’s gale. The missing child is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Shannon, 45 Fitzhertert Street, Petone. . There is no chance of the child having fallen from Petone wharf as the gates there were closed at 5 p.m., on Friday. The whole district has now been thoroughly combed. Throughout last night, a police car continually patrolled the waterfront from Ngahauranga to Eastbourne. On Sunday an aircraft circled overhead, and a police launch dragged likely spots of the harbour. Senior-Sergeant W. R. Miller, of Petone, who is in charge of operations said that it was strange how a child could disappear in such a populous area. If the child had entered the water at the beach she would have surely been seen by someone. He expressed thanks for the helpful interest and ready assistance of hundreds of people.