Researching an old murder

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MurrayM

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#139494 11-Feb-2014 11:48

I'm trying to research a murder that probably happened back in the 1980's but I can't find any info online about it.

I came across the following page that mentions the murder: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Murder_Memorial_Queen_Street_01.jpg

It's a photo of a memorial that someone left on the steps of the Westpac branch that is on the corner of Queen Street and Karangahape Road in Auckland. The description of the photo reads:

A little personal memorial for a murder victim that someone had put next to the doorway of the Westpac Bank at the top of Queen Street / Karangahape Road, Auckland City, New Zealand. A young Essex woman was apparently slain on these steps 21 years ago, and the unknown person (who apparently did not know her well, or at all) wonders about why it had to happen and what could (or in a way, has) become of her. I made sure that the little memorial stayed put a little longer (the tape had already almost given out). Very touching and sad.

But that's all the info I have about the murder. There's a date of June 2008 on that page, but I don't know if that's the date the photo was taken (which would mean that the murder probably took place in 1987 if the "21 years ago" is correct) or just the date the photo was uploaded (which could have been years after it was taken, making the "21 years ago" of no help in pin-pointing the date of the murder).

I've tried Googling to find out more about the murder but can't locate a single thing that talks about a murder in that location.

Does anyone remember this murder? Or can track down any extra info about it?

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#983985 11-Feb-2014 11:59

Interesting.
I do not remember it, but originally thought it might have been the Jane Furlong one, but she was a few years later.

Surely the Police have records, can you contact them?

Geektastic

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#983986 11-Feb-2014 12:01

I'd suggest finding the newspaper archives for that period, which probably are not on line yet.

MurrayM

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#983988 11-Feb-2014 12:04

trig42: Interesting.
I do not remember it, but originally thought it might have been the Jane Furlong one, but she was a few years later.

Surely the Police have records, can you contact them?

I don't really want to go troubling the police, this is just for a Murder Trail thing I'm setting up and so I've been looking at old murders around Auckland. I stumbled across this one and then tried to find more info but came up empty handed.

It's a bit hard researching K Rd murders because Jane Furlong keep popping up!

MurrayM

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#983992 11-Feb-2014 12:07

Geektastic: I'd suggest finding the newspaper archives for that period, which probably are not on line yet.

Indeed I've had good success using old newspaper archives when researching very old murders. The National Library have a great "Papers Past" section that you can search, but it only goes up to about 1945. The Herald and Stuff have more recent murders but not from the 80's (maybe only from when their websites started?)

I guess the Auckland Library has newspapers, maybe on microfiche.

andrewNZ

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#983996 11-Feb-2014 12:23

MurrayM:
trig42: Interesting.
I do not remember it, but originally thought it might have been the Jane Furlong one, but she was a few years later.

Surely the Police have records, can you contact them?

I don't really want to go troubling the police, this is just for a Murder Trail thing I'm setting up and so I've been looking at old murders around Auckland. I stumbled across this one and then tried to find more info but came up empty handed.

It's a bit hard researching K Rd murders because Jane Furlong keep popping up!

Google accepts arguments like -Furlong to fix that

Rickles

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#984002 11-Feb-2014 12:28

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10466751

R.

bazzer

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#984029 11-Feb-2014 12:53

MurrayM: I'm trying to research a murder that probably happened back in the 1980's but I can't find any info online about it.

I came across the following page that mentions the murder: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Murder_Memorial_Queen_Street_01.jpg

It's a photo of a memorial that someone left on the steps of the Westpac branch that is on the corner of Queen Street and Karangahape Road in Auckland. The description of the photo reads:

A little personal memorial for a murder victim that someone had put next to the doorway of the Westpac Bank at the top of Queen Street / Karangahape Road, Auckland City, New Zealand. A young Essex woman was apparently slain on these steps 21 years ago, and the unknown person (who apparently did not know her well, or at all) wonders about why it had to happen and what could (or in a way, has) become of her. I made sure that the little memorial stayed put a little longer (the tape had already almost given out). Very touching and sad.
But that's all the info I have about the murder. There's a date of June 2008 on that page, but I don't know if that's the date the photo was taken (which would mean that the murder probably took place in 1987 if the "21 years ago" is correct) or just the date the photo was uploaded (which could have been years after it was taken, making the "21 years ago" of no help in pin-pointing the date of the murder).

I've tried Googling to find out more about the murder but can't locate a single thing that talks about a murder in that location.

Does anyone remember this murder? Or can track down any extra info about it?

Judging by the File History, it looks like that image was uploaded at 23:11, 12 July 2008, so that June 2008 is probably the date the photo was taken.

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Geektastic

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#984052 11-Feb-2014 13:11

If she was from Essex, the UK papers probably reported the murder so you can look in their archives also.

MurrayM

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#984057 11-Feb-2014 13:15

Rickles: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10466751

R.

No that's a different murder.

It's in a different location, "a fire alarm cupboard off a stairwell which connects the BNZ Tower to the Centrecourt building in downtown Queen Street" vs the steps of the Westpac branch at the corner of Queen St and K Road.

And the time frame doesn't fit either, "September 1998" vs "21 years ago" from 2008".

MurrayM

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#984059 11-Feb-2014 13:17

Geektastic: If she was from Essex, the UK papers probably reported the murder so you can look in their archives also.

Good point, I'll look into this. Hopefully they meant the Essex in the UK and not the Essex in Canada or one of the several in the US!

MurrayM

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#984089 11-Feb-2014 13:35

Geektastic: If she was from Essex, the UK papers probably reported the murder so you can look in their archives also.

Well that's drawn a blank too. It seems there are many Poms that get themselves murdered here, but no females from Essex during the 1980's that I could find.

mattwnz

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#984100 11-Feb-2014 13:47

MurrayM: I'm trying to research a murder that probably happened back in the 1980's but I can't find any info online about it.

I came across the following page that mentions the murder: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Murder_Memorial_Queen_Street_01.jpg

It's a photo of a memorial that someone left on the steps of the Westpac branch that is on the corner of Queen Street and Karangahape Road in Auckland. The description of the photo reads:

A little personal memorial for a murder victim that someone had put next to the doorway of the Westpac Bank at the top of Queen Street / Karangahape Road, Auckland City, New Zealand. A young Essex woman was apparently slain on these steps 21 years ago, and the unknown person (who apparently did not know her well, or at all) wonders about why it had to happen and what could (or in a way, has) become of her. I made sure that the little memorial stayed put a little longer (the tape had already almost given out). Very touching and sad.
But that's all the info I have about the murder. There's a date of June 2008 on that page, but I don't know if that's the date the photo was taken (which would mean that the murder probably took place in 1987 if the "21 years ago" is correct) or just the date the photo was uploaded (which could have been years after it was taken, making the "21 years ago" of no help in pin-pointing the date of the murder).

I've tried Googling to find out more about the murder but can't locate a single thing that talks about a murder in that location.

Does anyone remember this murder? Or can track down any extra info about it?

Are you sure it is a real murder. If it is, it is likely to have been solved, and someone charged, so I am guessing the police will have some record. Maybe court records? Not sure how publically accessible this info is though. Newspapers though I think would be the best source of information, esp as murders back then were quite rare.

MurrayM

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#984113 11-Feb-2014 13:58

mattwnz: Are you sure it is a real murder. If it is, it is likely to have been solved, and someone charged, so I am guessing the police will have some record. Maybe court records? Not sure how publically accessible this info is though. Newspapers though I think would be the best source of information, esp as murders back then were quite rare.

No I'm not sure it's a real murder, the only info I've got to go on is that photo of the memorial and the note that accompanied it. Although I've got a very vague (but probably wrong) memory of something like that happening.

I've got a friend who's a retired journalist ao I'll ask her for advise on how to research it. Although I was hoping to just find something on the web rather than having to actually get off my bum and flick through real records!

Bee

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#984270 11-Feb-2014 16:40

I found a website with the 1987 newspapers on file... but they wanted to charge you $5 to view one document...

I was also trying to figure out what this building was in 1987 to maybe follow a lead on that... pretty sure it wasn't the Westpac branch then? but no luck on any of my searches...

1987 was the year that Teresa Cormack was killed but that's definitely not what you are looking for either...

Very intriguing...

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MurrayM

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#984294 11-Feb-2014 17:09

Bee: I found a website with the 1987 newspapers on file... but they wanted to charge you $5 to view one document...

I was also trying to figure out what this building was in 1987 to maybe follow a lead on that... pretty sure it wasn't the Westpac branch then? but no luck on any of my searches...

1987 was the year that Teresa Cormack was killed but that's definitely not what you are looking for either...

Very intriguing...

$5 might be worth it if I was sure it was for the correct murder guarantee.

The address is 111 Karangahape Road but I've found that searching on complete addresses isn't usually useful. I think the newspapers tend not to report the exact address on crimes, usually just the street name, maybe it's some sort of rule that they have. This wasn't always the case, I've found some old murders (pre 1950) where the full address was given in the newspaper report.

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