Memorial to Tanya Burr, killed 15 September 2002

Key emails from my Outbox: 15-16 Sept. 2002

The following are a series of emails I sent just before and just after Tanya's death. The last ones look amazingly 'controlled' and 'clinical', something that bares more resemblance to shock and misinterpretation by readers, than to reality. My entire family had all called around for the evening and all my organised 'mess' (in the eyes of others, as I need to know where my notes are etc. - and spent weeks trying to find some) was scattered to oblivion so they could eat fish and chips for tea. I managed a mouthful of fish and even that was forced. The phone rang all night and I could hardly think straight. I couldn't believe what was going on around me and it hadn't really dawned on me then that I had to plan a funeral. Kieran was in a similar state.....

Key Emails sent immediately after Tanya's death

As my computer's clock is invariably wrong, the correct time is shown in blue, as are my comments.

To: Tom & Britt (Norway). Subject: Russell & Jenna, Sunday, 15 September 2002 2:20 a.m. (in fact about 2:00 a.m.) 

Hi there,

I thought you'd like to know that Russell rang from LA during the afternoon to try to get the last leg home from Wellington sorted for tomorrow morning. I found the message on my answerphone when I got home rather late from Ormondville tonight. He's ringing back at 7:00 am - at which time I will have to break it to them that it looks like I'd better drive down and collect them!!! They get in slightly too late for the only train and the buses look useless too. I'd get Pam to collect them from the airport and then I'd get them from Pam's place at Lower Hutt.

We were looking at the slides I took around Norway at Ormondville tonight. I have to ask you a question on some local history topic Tom, but can't remember what it was just now.

Tanya will have got back to Rotorua about 6:00pm tonight (well, last night if the present time in the early hours of the morning is taken literally). She left here yesterday to stay the night with her auntie in Dannevirke, then we chanced upon each other again today as I drove through Dannevirke bound for Ormondville. I got all her many films developed for her on Friday (she must be very broke at this point!), so she has those to show for her trip now. She really enjoyed her trip it transpires. I am relieved.

When watching the (photographic) slides tonight, the others thought it hilarious as I went through the list of wedding guests who had visited Ormondville Station at some point. It made it all very personal to the various people involved with the station. We now just have to get Jenna to visit - as she has yet to do so.

Anyway, I'd better call it a night for now. Its a bit late...... Regards, Val

Email to Various. Subject: All Burrs (sort-off) safely back in NZ from Scandinavia!, Sunday, 15 September 2002 8:04 p.m. (in fact about 7:45 p.m., and thus VERY close - within minutes - to the time when Tanya was killed)

Hi all,

Just to fill 'involved people' in on certain relevant matters - at the end of a looooonnnnngggg day that started with arriving home from Ormondville Railway Station at 1:00 am - finding an 'urgent' message on my answerphone from Russell then in LA Airport needing urgent info on 'how to get from Wgn to PN on a Sunday morning' - checking the internet then, only to find it was virtually impossible (no suitable trains for MANY hours, ditto buses) - realising by 2:00am that I was in for an early drive to Wellington - phonecall from Russell at 6:45 am from Auckland re results of LA call - when I came to my senses (!!), phoned Pam (sister) at Lower Hutt and woke her on 2nd attempt on my cellphone while still talking to Russell on main phone to tell her to go fetch Russell and Jenna from Wgn airport at 8:25 am. Got up myself, ate breakfast and drove to and from Lower Hutt despite rather limited sleep. Russell suggested he could drive - but he looked worse than I felt.

Memo to me: Don't talk too late in the evening at Ormondville Station - even if the topic being discussed is very interesting.....

Anyway, Tanya (who arrived back from London on Thursday) is also now safely home with her two flaming cats in Rotorua. For those who don't know already, Paul, Kieran and I got back to NZ a fortnight ago, Pam & Dennis got back last week, and thus the Great Wedding Excursion of Burrs to Russell and Jenna's wedding in Norway is successfully concluded.

The only two mishaps bearing dollar signs were that Pam crashed her car into her carshed while suffering jet-lag last week and did $600 of damage. Now repaired....!

Then this afternoon, just after dropping Russell and Jenna home at ..........., I was heading back toward the .................... Road several kilometres from their home - and 'Murphy the farm dog' decided to cross the road without looking both ways and crashed into my front mudguard (behind the wheel) at full gallop - injuring himself a little (especially bruising and his front foot) and causing a few hundred $$ of damage to my car. At present I can't open the driver's door!! The guy with him cheerfully (?) accepted liability and that I was neither speeding or to blame. Poor 'Murphy the dog' - and to think I was worried about Bush, Blair, OBL and pals, Saddam etc., but forgot about 'global reach' of the b....y IRA!

Regards, Val

Murphy's handiwork, photographed about two hours before Tanya's death, when that seemed the worst incident associated with our holiday.

The following emails were sent by me on 16 September 2002, before anyone got round to telling me Tanya was dead. They look so 'ordinary', and so unreal given that I should have been very much 'elsewhere'.

Remember that Tanya's body had been found shortly before 8am that morning, and that the police finally arrived to tell me Tanya was dead at about 4:30pm.

Email to Evening Standard Mon 16 September 2002 about 2:30pm

Dear Editor, I have read with interest your article entitled: 'Firefighters catch up on days of yore', published on 14 September, regarding 115-year-old local newspapers found on the walls of an old house being torched as an exercise by the Ashhurst Fire Brigade. I sincerely hope attempts were made to remove, copy, or by some other means extract the information published on those pages. If not, then the city just permanently lost that irreplaceable information, as Palmerston North's 1887 newspapers otherwise no longer exist. Regards, Val Burr

Email to S. (query via a website ): Mon 16 September 2002 about 3pm

Firstly, I wonder if you have seen our website, which is www.ormondvillerail.org , as that will answer much of your query. We have a kind of 'outdoor museum', where the station and goods yard have been or are being transformed to as it was in its heyday in the 1950s, although the station itself (and goods shed) is as it was since 1901 - apart from the portion that now is the B&B. We have very limited 'operational' rolling stock, although this is minimal - mostly as a means to move things around the goods yard. A very active volunteer restoration programme on that area has been underway for some time. You will see these things on our website - though the photos taken by me last weekend will update the website a little - when I upload them.    

Secondly, much of the period that you will be in NZ includes Labour Weekend (26-28th), so there is a better than usual chance that we will have a range of interested parties available at the station to shuffle things about if that is your wish. I have a feeling Friday the 25th is also a holiday in Hawkes Bay - or maybe in just part of HB.     

Ormondville is (rather mostly 'was') a town in its own right, however, it served the little town of Norsewood, which is nearby. So you might also get some useful information from the website www.oocities.org/norsewoodnz If it looks a lot like our website, this is because I operate them both.    

Looking forward to hearing from you again.    

Regards, Val Burr 

Email to Evan (PN), Monday, 16 September 2002 about 3pm, re newspaper article on Dannevirke's proposed giant Viking statue (abridged)

Yes I saw this. I wondered about the (Viking's) horns??

Your afternoon timetable is okay by me (re collecting the aforementioned gift). Can you phone me first (say from lunchtime any day) to confirm I'm here - and will still be there when you call!! That stops me wandering off and forgetting things. Phone .......... Regards, Val

Email to Kirsty (PN), Monday, 16 September 2002 about 3pm

Hi Kirsty, Its $375's worth of damage. Yes, do contact me. I keep forgetting. Regards, Val

In response to Kirsty's message re Murphy the dog crashing into my car the night before: "Well, I guess that's Murphy's law!! Good luck with getting the car fixed!! Good to know you're back - will contact you after the holidays - haven't seen you for yonks! Kirsty"

Email to L. (query via a website ) Monday, 16 September 2002 about 7:40 pm, re Living Heritage

Email to Various, Cc: Simon Power (Rangitikei MP); Steve Maharey (Palmerston North NP and Minister of Social Services), Subject: Re Tanya Burr's murder at Rotorua last night, Tuesday, 17 September 2002 12:41 a.m. (in fact about 12:20 a.m.)

Hi everyone,

I guess if you watched the TV News tonight, you will have seen that my daughter Tanya was murdered in her Rotorua flat sometime in the course of last night (Sunday/Monday). We are somewhat in a state of shock, but I thought I'd better confirm that it is her. The first we knew was this afternoon about 4:30pm when the police arrived. They had known since about 8:00am, but took their time getting to me. She was okay when Anita phoned her about 6:30 pm last night, but was tired and about to go to bed. The police said (I think) she was still dressed, so presumably it happened soon after.

Bruce had heard on the radio that it was a 21-year-old woman in Hilda Street, Rotorua, and I had seen the reference on the internet news, but Bruce didn't know she was back in NZ, and I hadn't clicked on the link to the webpage concerned.

We are obviously rather devastated and don't really know our next move.

The police have someone 'helping them with their inquiries', (having been dobbed in by ............) but its not to reach the media at this point. (In fact it turned out that he was still on the run at this time, but I didn't realise that then) He is aged 16. I have STRONGLY suggested to the police that he not come anywhere near the Lower North Youth Justice Centre (down the road in Kelvin Grove, which I lead the fight to prevent several years ago) - as this (Kelvin Grove) is our .......  home and I don't want him in it.

(TO STEVE MAHAREY: That above is a special message for you to ensure occurs!!!!!!!!!!, with SIMON POWER to keep the pressure on. There is a little matter of a $500 speeding ticket and $9,000+ in rip-off student loan fees too, that I have no intention - in the latter case on principle - of paying too. She had ended up heavily in debt due to the student loan and the car. That's why I paid the air travel costs for her to see something of the world.)

Tanya, Kieran and I went to Norway on 12 August and attended my brother Russell's wedding to Jenna on August 17th. There were a total of eight members of my family in Norway (at Årnes where our forebears came from). This was really big news in this rural district, and even Tanya's photo appeared in the newspaper (with our group). On the 22nd, Tanya and my sister Pam and her husband went to London, where Tanya in due course left for a 16-day Contiki tour of Europe. She returned to New Zealand last Thursday afternoon and I brought her home to Palmerston North that evening. Kieran and I had been back about two weeks then.

She stayed here Thursday night, with her auntie, Clara, in Dannevirke on Friday night, and then headed home on Saturday. We chanced to bump into each other in Dannevirke on Saturday afternoon and spent some more time together. Then she headed home to Rotorua, where she arrived about 7:00pm (for a celebration dinner at a friend's flat). I collected Russell and Jenna from Wellington (where they had also returned from Norway) on Sunday morning, and phoned Tanya from Lower Hutt about 10:00am to confirm that she had arrived home safely. She was home and happy, but tired.

That was my last contact with her. (My phone records showed that we talked for 2.32 minutes starting at 10:29 am)

She had really enjoyed her time away and had thoroughly enjoyed her Contiki trip and the friends she made on it. They will be devastated - when I retrieve their addresses from heerr flat. She had everything to live for.

She was evidently stabbed to death in the hall of her flat, and her flatmate Kate found her as soon as she walked in the door this morning. Evidently she had put up quite a fight according to the police - and the TV News. She was apparently not interfered with and Kate could see no other evidence of interference with the flat. Nothing obvious had been stolen. Kate said there wasn't much blood and only a little on her mouth. The others (the kind sensitive - farm-bred - relatives of mine!!) think this means she was probably got in the lungs.

She has been taken to Auckland for an autopsy in the morning, and will be returned to Rotorua after that. Then her father and his sister Myra, are bringing her down here. I want her home

(TO MARGARET ...........): I remember your advice (about bringing a child home if it was killed), but didn't expect to have to enact it any more than you did, and also to spend time out at Tokorangi before burial at Kelvin Grove with my people and in my home territory. I haven't figured out where the funeral service should be yet, but somewhere in all that general Manawatu area.

(TO ERIKA: I'm very much thinking of you and I know you will know where I'm at. Also LYNNE P.)

Anyway, for those without access to the NZ media, the following URLs will fill you in: http://www.nzherald.co.nz http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews (Plus video) http://www.tv3.co.nz/news (plus video at present, but probably not for long).

The photo I asked to have released to the media (from her album) was taken several weeks ago in Amsterdam for my specific benefit. She was smoking a legal marijuana cigarette in some place (a cafe) - along with many other Contiki passengers. It was intended to shock me, but the result was a fantastic photo of a very pretty girl. When she returned to NZ, Customs confiscated a souvenir 'thing' she bought from a souvenir shop in Amsterdam because it was related to smoking marijuana (but had 'Amsterdam' written on it.) I want it BACK!!!!

Better call it a night I guess. Kieran can't handle sleeping alone and neither can our cat just home from being speyed (in fact, I was just arriving home from the vet with her when I found the police here). So Its going to be a full bed tonight. Otherwise there's Tanya's bed - still made up.....

Regards, Val

Email through their online message system to NZ Herald , sent Tuesday, 17 September 2002  about 7:00am, after I suddenly realised about 6am that they might have something about it on their website, and got up to check.

Hi, re your article this morning: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=2847458&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

There are some mistakes in it that are easier fixed now than later - should they require revisiting.

We went to Norway (totalling eight family members) for my brother's wedding and then she went on a Contiki excursion trip around Norway.

We (Tanya, her brother Kieran aged 11, and me) went on 12 August. The wedding was on 17 August. Then she and my sister and brother-in-law went to London where several days later Tanya went on a 16-day European Encounter holiday to the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Italy etc. She evidently had a terrific time. She got home to Wellington last Thursday afternoon, then I brought her here to Palmerston North where she stayed Thursday night.

She then stayed with her Auntie in Dannevirke Friday night. She and I chanced to meet in Dannevirke again on Saturday early afternoon just as she prepared to drive home to Rotorua. She duly got there and I phoned her Sunday morning about 10:30 am to confirm she was home safely - and to tell her my brother and his wife (the newlyweds) had also just got home an hour or so earlier. She was fine then obviously, and her two beloved cats (Puffball and Phoebe), who she had been keen to get home to, were also fine.

I saw your item on the internet about three hours before the police told me yesterday afternoon at 4:00pm. However, I didn't look at the webpage - fortunately or otherwise.

Regards, Val Burr

Email to Evening Standard, Tuesday, 17 September 2002 about 7:20am. Subject: Death Notice for my murdered daughter!

Hi, shortly you will be receiving a preliminary death notice from Cottons, for my daughter, so as I haven't slept, and so on, here is an emailed version of it in anticipation.

Burr, Tanya Jeanine - Tragically, over the night of 15-16 September 2002 at Rotorua, the dearly loved daughter of Val Burr (Palmerston North) and Kelvin Williams (Hastings), aged 21. Dearly loved and already greatly missed big sister of Kieran. Funeral notice to follow.

I've already firmly told the Rotorua and PN police - and emailed Maharey (and requested Simon Power's oversight) - to the effect that the bastard isn't to come to Mohaka Place!!!! He can rot in a police dungeon or ................ in an adult prison with my blessing. Tanya, however, was not apparently interfered with.

Regards, Val Burr

Email to Cottons, undertakers (PN), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 about 8:10am. Subject: Tanya's death notice

Hi there, Here it is...

"Burr, Tanya Jeanine - Tragically, overnight on 15-16 September 2002 at Rotorua, the dearly loved daughter of Val Burr (Palmerston North) and Kelvin Williams (Hastings), aged 21. Dearly loved and already greatly missed big sister of Kieran. Funeral notice to follow."

Its strange watching it all on TV, but if it wasn't on TV, I wouldn't know what was happening.

Regards, Val