Vital evidence went unnoticed

Wanaka journalist Mark Price is one of those old enough to remember the front page headlines of the Otago Daily Times in 1969 tracking the search for Jennifer Beard, and then the hunt for the man who murdered her.

Thirty-six years later, in 2005, Long Acre Press, in Dunedin, published his book — Getting Away With Murder, The Jennifer Beard Inquiry.

However, one piece of the puzzle has until now proven elusive — who was the girl who could have changed the course of a murder inquiry which evolved into one of New Zealand’s biggest murder mysteries?

Of all the bad luck police had while trying to solve the murder of English hitchhiker Jennifer Beard — at Haast 50 years ago this New Year’s Eve  — the lack of attention paid to a young Oamaru girl’s story was near the top of the list.

Jennifer Beard’s body was found under the northern abutment of the Haast River Bridge on January 19, 1970.

She had been strangled there almost three weeks earlier, on New Year’s Eve, 1969.

The delay in finding her body had a number of effects on the search for her killer.

Over a period of 18 months, police would interview hundreds of potential witnesses, examine thousands of cars across the country, and take a close look at dozens of men  identified as potential suspects.

They would come close to charging Timaru truck driver, the late Gordon Bray.

But they did not — held back by concerns the charge might not stick.

While Bray had been  near the murder scene while on holiday, he denied being there on the day Ms Beard died.

His blue Vauxhall was the same make and model as one Ms Beard was seen travelling in but several important witnesses recalled the car they saw near the murder scene as being green.

There were also physical and clothing differences between Bray and the man witnesses recalled.

As well, the one piece of hard evidence linking Bray with the scene was tarnished.

It was a receipt with Bray’s name on it in the pocket of trousers found near the murder scene.

The trousers were put on a shelf by a DSIR scientist and "overlooked" for more than three months, giving rise to police concerns they might be accused in court of planting the receipt.

But, all these factors might never have been an issue if a 10-year-old Oamaru girl had been heeded.

Fifty years ago, Bernie Mulcahy-Chavez (60) was on a camping holiday — "roughing it" — with her parents Rosalie Mulcahy (92), now of Auckland, and her late father Brian Mulcahy, a well-known Oamaru bricklayer.

Bernie now lives in Manila, in the Philippines.

On New Year’s Day, 1970, the day after the murder, the family stopped at the rest area next to where Ms Beard’s body lay under the bridge.

But it was not until a month later that Bernie had the first opportunity to give police a statement.

"During the Christmas holidays I was staying at Cromwell with my mother and father.

"On New Year’s Day, I went for a ride with my mother and father to the Haast Pass.

"On the way back we stopped under a bridge after lunch, and I was playing under the bridge with the other children that were with us and I pretended that I had lost my shoe.

"While I was at the side of the bridge I saw some clothes that were in a bundle lying in the grass and the bushes.

"I thought that it looked like a dress and there were flowers on it and it was blue and yellow.

"I did not touch it at all.

"There was a pair of pants and I think that there was either a singlet or bra with it, too.

"The pants and the bra were white.

"I did not see anything else."

When she emerged from under the bridge, she told her parents what she had seen.

Police recorded Mr Mulcahy saying: "Just thought at the time that it could have been some woman relieving herself or perhaps a courting couple.

"Told the girl to keep away."

It was an understandable reaction, but in respect of the police investigation, an unfortunate one.

Closer inspection of the clothing might well have led to the discovery of Jennifer Beard’s body.

As it transpired, without knowing of Bernie’s find, police were left to search 260km of State Highway 6 from Fox Glacier to Wanaka, as well as side roads and beaches.

The officer in charge of the inquiry, Detective Inspector Emmett Mitten, later described it as a "massive, massive area".
Soldiers just back from Vietnam were drafted in to help.

Trevor Joy, the police officer in charge of the search, recalled rain falling at the rate of an "inch per hour".

Eventually, acting on information published in the Otago Daily Times on January 19, 1970, Dunedin resident Bill Crossan recalled an incident on his family’s Westland holiday, and headed for the Dunedin Police Station to report what they had seen at the Haast Bridge in the minutes after Ms Beard died.

They had not seen the clothing Bernie had seen, but recognised the description of a potential suspect and his car.

Their report led to Ms Beard’s badly decomposed body being found.

Today Bernie runs a business started by her cousin, Wanaka entrepreneur the late Bob Robertson.

Of the time she was at the Haast bridge 50 years ago, Bernie said all she could remember was "going back to Dad and saying I had seen some clothing under the bridge".

"I think my father didn’t want us to go any further because maybe he was thinking; because back in those days you would be swimming naked in the river or it could have been two young lovers or whatever."

She did not remember seeing a body.

Bernie left Waitaki Girls’ High School when she was 15 to work at the Waitaki County Council before moving with her family to Kerikeri, in Northland.

When she was 21 she left New Zealand permanently.

She recalled once hitchhiking from Greece to London with a truck driver.

"I didn’t even know the person who I got in the truck with.

"I think of all the scary, stupid things — the risks that you take when you are young. It’s just your bad luck in life, isn’t it?"
Gordon Bray died in 2003.

He remains the strongest suspect but not the only one.

The police file on the Jennifer Beard inquiry is thick with the names of potential witnesses, potential suspects and people completely irrelevant to the search for her killer.

One Whanganui person gave a statement to police saying: "I feel I saw the car that the police are inquiring about" outside the Whanganui Museum and there was "something about" the driver’s hair.

A Wanaka person reported to police parking behind a green Vauxhall.

"She is not sure of the date she saw this car ... outside a restaurant. Again she is not sure which one ... she will advise accordingly if her memory improves."

A Wanaka constable interviewed a Vauxhall owner who was "inclined to be tubby owing to the fact he drinks too much beer", but he did not consider the man fitted the suspect’s description.

"He does however wear Bombay-type shorts and Roman-type sandals."

An anonymous caller suggested a "loud mouth and wife beater" as a possible suspect.

There was considerable police interest in another man who fitted the description, and drove a green Vauxhall, but who turned out to have a solid alibi.

And a key witness was described by some who gave statements as a "glamour seeker" and "a renowned liar".

Among all the recollections, allegations and suspicions, the file contains reports from police around the country painstakingly following up and, generally, managing to eliminate cars and suspects from the murder inquiry.

The file is full of thousands of typewritten pages detailing the way New Zealanders spent their summer holidays in South Westland 50 years ago.

Many were camping in tents and caravans, tramping and fishing, taking scenic photos and enjoying typical family activities.

But plenty were also "on the booze", having "trouble with the wife", acting as bookmakers and accusing others of being "bloody liars".

mark.price@odt.co.nz