No Trace Of Car

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21081, 6 April 1940, Page 8

No Trace Of Car

TIME AGAINST POLICE

WAIKINO DEVELOPMENTS ASSISTANCE FROM PUBLIC (Times Special Reporter) WAIKINO, Saturday Although generous assistance has been forthcoming from the public and the police are making an intensive search over a wide area, there is still no trace of the motor vehicle believed to have been responsible for the tragedy at Waikino on Tuesday night. It is established that the woman, Mrs Alice Hamilton, aged 27 years, and the boy, Lloyd Moran, aged 15 years, were walking along the road just out of the township when they were struck by a motor vehicle and seriously injured. The fact that the bodies were found three miles apart and both some distance from the actual point of the accident appears to the police to indicate that the driver of the vehicle wished to divert suspicion from a car accident and complicate the discovery of the two bodies. Since the bodies were discovered on the Wednesday morning police and pathologists have carried out numerous investigations and have reconstructed what might have happened on the Tuesday night. Their deductions, sufficiently backed up by evidence, point to the fact that the pair were struck hy a motor vehicle not long after they had left the Waikino Hotel for their walk and that then, in an endeavour to hide the accident, the person, or persons responsible, staged the other developments. The police force near the scene of the tragedy has been materially strengthened and an intensive search for a car or truck bearing signs of having been involved in an accident is proceeding. In all other towns and cities extensive inquiries are also being made. The police are looking for a car that is damaged about the front, with one headlight glass missing or replaced. Removed in Vehicle The bodies were removed in the vehicle, and as both bled extensively, the blood traces should be a valuable clue. It is considered in some quarters that the car is not one of the new models. In the first place the discovery of a tyre lever near the woman’s body seems to indicate that it was not a new vehicle, as tyre levers are not now supplied. Judging from the Injuries received by the victims the vehicle must have received some hard blows and the fact that it was able to continue on its gruesome journey to remove the bodies also appears to indicate that the car was one of the more sturdily constructed and heavier earlier models. Had it been a new model the streamlining effects would probably have broken off and left a clue. The time factor is difinitely against the police as it will give the person responsible time to obliterate some of the evidences of the crash. Reports have been coming to hand from various sources from members of the public indicating their desire to help the police.

Reports cover the movements of cars which appeared to be damaged and other relative information and the investigators are optimistic that a definite clue will shortly be discovered. Statement by Superintendent Superintendent C. W. Lopdell, of Hamilton, who is controlling the investigations, said to-day that the police were concentrating on tracing the vehicle and also the article of woman’s clothing that had not been found. This is a tweed skirt and it is hoped that if this is discovered it will give some clue as to the direction in which the vehicle escaped. Detective-Sergeant J. Thompson, of Hamilton, is in charge of the inquiries at the Waihi End and Detective J. Hayes, of Hamilton, is directing the inquiries at Waikino. Detective A. J. White, also of Hamilton, is collating all the information coming to hand from the district and with headquarters in Hamilton is ready to proceed to any portion of the district where assistance may be required. Superintendent Lopdell is dividing his time between Hamilton and Waikino and he is keeping a close watch on all developments. The late Mrs Hamilton was a solidly-built woman and it is considered in some quarters that there might have been two persons in the motor vehicle which struck the victims down. It would be no easy task for one man to lift her body into a car or truck, then place the boy’s body alongside and later take the bodies out again.