OMEN
07-12-2006, 11:54 PM
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/common/imageViewer/0,1445,245767,00.jpg
SEARCH SQUAD: Police divers return from searching for clues to the murder of Tony Stanlake. A man has been charged with Mr Stanlake's murder but the investigation goes on.
A 21-year-old man was arrested last night and charged with the murder of Tony Stanlake, whose mutilated body was found at Red Rocks.
The accused will appear in Wellington District Court this morning.
Police have seized a dark blue Subaru Legacy sedan they had been seeking. They had earlier sought the driver of a Subaru Legacy which became buried to its bumper at Owhiro Bay on Saturday night.
A 1995 four-door vehicle with sunroof and spoiler was found at a Wainuiomata address and is now being forensically examined.
Inquiry head Detective Inspector Mike Arnerich said the arrest was excellent news in what continued to be a very fast moving inquiry.
"We firmly believe more people were involved in Tony's death," he said. "We've still got a lot of investigative work to do to identify and find these people."
Earlier police said the Red Rocks murder investigation was being stymied by Mr Stanlake's associates refusing to reveal themselves.
The hunt over the grisly murder also shifted to the Wellington tip – the scene of one of the city's most notorious searches – and just up the road from Owhiro Bay where the mutilated body was found dumped on Sunday.
Mr Stanlake's hands had been cut off and attempts made to sever his battered head.
Police also confirmed yesterday that a car that crashed through a fence at Mr Stanlake's house in the Wellington suburb of Karori three weeks ago had gang connections.
A neighbour said she believed Mr Stanlake had unsuccessfully sought reparation for the crash.
Mr Stanlake, 62, had convictions for cannabis growing.
Mr Arnerich said police were frustrated at the reluctance of Mr Stanlake's friends, workmates, neighbours or associates to cooperate. Though there had been more than 100 calls to a police hotline, just six people who knew him had approached police. "Here's a man, Tony Stanlake, who was well known in the city, yet only half a dozen people say they know him. He knew a heck of a lot more than half a dozen people."
The last known sighting of Mr Stanlake alive was a week ago, at Bunnings Warehouse in Adelaide Rd at 12.13pm on Thursday, where he bought a $14 ballcock.
Police searched three areas of Wellington yesterday – the beach where Mr Stanlake's body was found, his Lancaster St house and the tip.
A search of the landfill was "not uncommon" in Wellington murder investigations, Mr Arnerich said. It was there police found a box of ammunition that led to John Barlow being convicted of the 1994 murders of city businessmen Gene and Eugene Thomas.
Police said Mr Stanlake's hands, upper-body clothing, and the weapons used to kill him were still missing.
Meanwhile, more details have emerged about Mr Stanlake's past. Court records from his 2001 cannabis cultivation convictions charges show that his son, Anthony Grant Stanlake, committed suicide in November 2000, four months after Tony Stanlake first learned about cannabis from a relative on a trip to Holland.
Mr Stanlake had assets of $1.3 million, including $180,000 in funds earmarked for his children, and was the sole beneficiary of his son's will.
Mr Stanlake suffered from a diabetic condition, and though he had previous convictions for driving offences, he was treated as a first offender on the cannabis charges.
His son's death was blamed for sending Mr Stanlake into a downward spiral of prescription medicine, alcohol and ultimately illegal drugs.
His former wife, Julie Bosma, is originally from Holland. She is a French and German teacher at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, in Karori, and is on holiday in Europe.
Mr Stanlake, who was adopted, is survived by two adult daughters. The mother of those children and the dead son died of cancer in the late 1990s.
A builder, who had worked on several of Mr Stanlake's properties, said he was "a bloody nice guy" who did things by the book. "He was no big-time drug dealer that I know of."
The crime scenes have proved popular with the public. Mr Arnerich said it was possible that the killers were among the hundreds of curious onlookers who had visited Owhiro Bay.
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/dominionpost.gif
SEARCH SQUAD: Police divers return from searching for clues to the murder of Tony Stanlake. A man has been charged with Mr Stanlake's murder but the investigation goes on.
A 21-year-old man was arrested last night and charged with the murder of Tony Stanlake, whose mutilated body was found at Red Rocks.
The accused will appear in Wellington District Court this morning.
Police have seized a dark blue Subaru Legacy sedan they had been seeking. They had earlier sought the driver of a Subaru Legacy which became buried to its bumper at Owhiro Bay on Saturday night.
A 1995 four-door vehicle with sunroof and spoiler was found at a Wainuiomata address and is now being forensically examined.
Inquiry head Detective Inspector Mike Arnerich said the arrest was excellent news in what continued to be a very fast moving inquiry.
"We firmly believe more people were involved in Tony's death," he said. "We've still got a lot of investigative work to do to identify and find these people."
Earlier police said the Red Rocks murder investigation was being stymied by Mr Stanlake's associates refusing to reveal themselves.
The hunt over the grisly murder also shifted to the Wellington tip – the scene of one of the city's most notorious searches – and just up the road from Owhiro Bay where the mutilated body was found dumped on Sunday.
Mr Stanlake's hands had been cut off and attempts made to sever his battered head.
Police also confirmed yesterday that a car that crashed through a fence at Mr Stanlake's house in the Wellington suburb of Karori three weeks ago had gang connections.
A neighbour said she believed Mr Stanlake had unsuccessfully sought reparation for the crash.
Mr Stanlake, 62, had convictions for cannabis growing.
Mr Arnerich said police were frustrated at the reluctance of Mr Stanlake's friends, workmates, neighbours or associates to cooperate. Though there had been more than 100 calls to a police hotline, just six people who knew him had approached police. "Here's a man, Tony Stanlake, who was well known in the city, yet only half a dozen people say they know him. He knew a heck of a lot more than half a dozen people."
The last known sighting of Mr Stanlake alive was a week ago, at Bunnings Warehouse in Adelaide Rd at 12.13pm on Thursday, where he bought a $14 ballcock.
Police searched three areas of Wellington yesterday – the beach where Mr Stanlake's body was found, his Lancaster St house and the tip.
A search of the landfill was "not uncommon" in Wellington murder investigations, Mr Arnerich said. It was there police found a box of ammunition that led to John Barlow being convicted of the 1994 murders of city businessmen Gene and Eugene Thomas.
Police said Mr Stanlake's hands, upper-body clothing, and the weapons used to kill him were still missing.
Meanwhile, more details have emerged about Mr Stanlake's past. Court records from his 2001 cannabis cultivation convictions charges show that his son, Anthony Grant Stanlake, committed suicide in November 2000, four months after Tony Stanlake first learned about cannabis from a relative on a trip to Holland.
Mr Stanlake had assets of $1.3 million, including $180,000 in funds earmarked for his children, and was the sole beneficiary of his son's will.
Mr Stanlake suffered from a diabetic condition, and though he had previous convictions for driving offences, he was treated as a first offender on the cannabis charges.
His son's death was blamed for sending Mr Stanlake into a downward spiral of prescription medicine, alcohol and ultimately illegal drugs.
His former wife, Julie Bosma, is originally from Holland. She is a French and German teacher at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, in Karori, and is on holiday in Europe.
Mr Stanlake, who was adopted, is survived by two adult daughters. The mother of those children and the dead son died of cancer in the late 1990s.
A builder, who had worked on several of Mr Stanlake's properties, said he was "a bloody nice guy" who did things by the book. "He was no big-time drug dealer that I know of."
The crime scenes have proved popular with the public. Mr Arnerich said it was possible that the killers were among the hundreds of curious onlookers who had visited Owhiro Bay.
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/dominionpost.gif