Memorial to Tanya Burr, killed 15 September 2002

Back Home Safely: Sunday, 15 September 2002

My evening was spent muttering to myself about my dented car - and worrying about poor Murphy's bruises and sore leg. 

Meanwhile in Rotorua, Anita rang Tanya at about 6:30 pm (about 90 minutes before Tanya's estimated time of death) to arrange to meet her the following morning. They had arranged before Tanya went overseas that she would apply for a cafe worker's job at the place where Anita worked. This application was effectively a technicality as Tanya already knew the employers, she had worked for several Rotorua cafes and had also trained in the type of work at UCOL (polytech) in Palmerston North.

When Anita rang, Tanya was still in bed recuperating from the trip, but she told Anita that she was going to get up, make herself something to eat and then watch some TV. It appears she then just pulled her jeans and jersey on over her nightie and headed downstairs. Certainly the two cats would have followed her, as they really cling after absences inflicted upon them by 'their people'.

Anita thinks that Tanya probably had not gone grocery shopping during the Sunday, as police photos show that she had been forced to continue using the coffee percolator instead of her preferred instant coffee. Anita knew the instant coffee had run out as she had spent a couple of hours at the flat (catching up on events and exploring Tanya's souvenirs and new clothes) on the Saturday evening after Tanya's welcome home dinner.

Tanya had done some unpacking, but much of that had been left in the meantime - and thus was never done. She had, however, found the sole missing Qantas boarding pass that we needed for her Air Points. We'd discussed this overlooked subject at Dannevirke the previous day. I found the boarding pass carefully put aside on her dressing table, but it no longer had any value.

A film Tanya particularly liked was on TV that night, and Anita thinks she would have been watching it. Tanya's phone account shows that at about 7:00 pm, she made a very brief toll call that probably just reached an answerphone. The next toll call on the account was Tanya's flatmate ringing her mother just before 8:00 am the following morning, moments after walking into the flat and discovering Tanya's body.

******

Thus, at about 8:00 pm on Sunday night,15 September 2002  - about 23 hours after she returned to her flat - Tanya drank her coffee and watched TV with her cats. Then, if her cats' subsequent responses are to be interpreted as 'accurate', her evening and her life were very suddenly interrupted by a stranger, who proceeded to stab her to death in front of her terrified pets.  Her alleged killer's actions were widely described as having been 'frenzied'. 

This person also stole her car, her camera (empty - thank God for that tiny mercy at least!), her (almost empty!!) wallet, her sunglasses, the pack of duty free cigarettes Pam had got for her (which Anita last recalls seeing still in her suitcase), and her wallet of CDs taken from the car. 

The car was found almost out of petrol at the Challenge service station at Tauranga-Taupo, near Lake Taupo. This suggests that the anticipated Palmerston North fill-up I shouted Tanya, had lasted that long.  Its keys were recovered from their hiding place opposite the Shell Service Station at Turangi after her alleged killer 'kindly' told the police where to look for them. The camera was retrieved from a Wellington pawn shop by the police and the then 16 -year-old youth who eventually pleaded guilty to Tanya's murder, still had her wallet and the other things on him when he turned himself in to a surprised uniformed police officer at Porirua late on Tuesday afternoon. My question? What then was his point......