Residents living near where a machete was discovered during the investigation into the alleged murder of an American student have been left shocked by the find.
New photographs show police combing through a suburban reserve in Auckland before finding the machete believed to have been used to kill Kyle Whorrall.
A neighbour told the Herald the grass in Maybury Reserve is cut regularly, so they were surprised the weapon wasn’t found previously.
Residents said police had searched the area from the morning into the afternoon and were particularly looking around the trees.
Earlier today, police released new details about the ongoing homicide investigation into the bus stop killing of Whorrall.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said at Auckland City Police Hub that police discovered a machete in Maybury Reserve, Glen Innes, yesterday. He would not confirm if it was the murder weapon.
Whorrall, 33, was killed in an attack in St Johns during Easter Weekend while he was waiting at a bus stop.
Two people were arrested by the Operation Aberfeldy investigation team in late April; however, police have maintained others were in the car on the night Whorrall was fatally attacked.
Baldwin said a 16-year-old boy remains before the High Court at Auckland charged with Whorrall’s murder.
A 33-year-old woman is before the Auckland District Court on two charges of being an accessory after the fact to murder.
Baldwin said today the investigation into Whorrall’s alleged murder “is not over” and made a fresh appeal to the public for help.
“There are people in the community who have intimate knowledge of this crime,” he said.
“There have been recent developments in the case. Police are determined to hold the killers to account. The police need assistance from members of the community. Now is the time to come forward… This is the opportunity to do the right thing.”
Baldwin would not say today what led a specialist search team and a police dog team to Maybury Reserve, but “it wasn’t by mistake”.
He said police were not certain if the machete was the murder weapon, but they were keeping an open mind.
It was a rusty machete that “had been in the weather for some time”.
Maybury Reserve was about 5km from the bus stop.
“Two assailants confronted Kyle at the bus stop that night,” Baldwin said.
“They had come from a black Mitsubishi Outlander SUV, which was parked nearby.
“Kyle was struck with a large, bladed weapon. He sustained unsurvivable injuries and, despite the best efforts of the paramedics and medical specialists at Auckland Hospital, he died at Auckland Hospital a short time later.
“The police investigation into Kyle’s murder has been ongoing for the last five months, and our understanding of the events has developed significantly.”
Baldwin said “most of the people involved” in the incident were in Auckland. There are still items “of interest” belonging to Whorrall that are outstanding, he said.
He said he spoke with Whorrall’s mother this morning.
“It’s an incredibly tough thing for her to deal with… We just want to find out what happened to Kyle.
“He did nothing wrong.”
Baldwin said Whorrall was confronted by two assailants at the bus stop.
The black SUV had been circling around the spot where Whorrall was sitting, security camera footage showed.
Baldwin launched a renewed appeal for information last month, pleading with those involved with the student’s death to “do the right thing”.
“We know there were others in the vehicle that night, and I’m asking people with that information to come forward now.”
Whorrall’s mother, Carole, told the Herald she wanted her son to be remembered for his life, not his death, when she spoke after his memorial in May.
“Kyle was a brilliant, gentle and deeply caring person whose love for the natural world shaped his life and inspired those around him,” she said.
“He was dedicated to making a difference and about to embark on a brilliant career. He was deeply loved and admired by his family.”
The Ōrākei Local Board arranged for a memorial service at St Johns Bush, where a pōhutukawa was planted, with Carole in attendance.
Whorrall, who was originally from Los Angeles, was in the last stages of a PhD in entomology at the University of Auckland and was based at Landcare Research in St Johns.
Police claim two occupants of the erratically driven vehicle attacked Whorrall while he was sitting alone at a bus stop on April 22.
Whorrall was struck with a “long” weapon, suffering multiple head injuries, and later died in hospital.
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