Carmen investigators take clothing from site

Police investigating the murder of Carmen Thomas gather what appears to be clothing from a central construction site. Photo / NZPA

Police investigating the murder of Auckland woman Carmen Thomas today removed what appeared to be items of clothing from the construction site where the man accused of killing her worked.

Two plain-clothed officers put on rubber gloves and bagged items of fabric from an area of a Mansons TCLM construction site where a digger had been removing soil and concrete.

They put the items in their unmarked police car before going into the recently constructed Telecom building, also built by Mansons, across the road.

On Monday, police were seen putting a camera down a hole at the construction site.

Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty, who has been fielding multiple media calls about Ms Thomas, said yesterday's arrest of Bradford James Joseph Callaghan, her former boyfriend and father to her son, was a breakthrough in the investigation, but there was still a long way to go before officers, and most importantly her family, could put the case to rest.

"It's progress and it is a breakthrough in many respects but, like we've said from the outset, we want to know where she is and we'll carry on until we can find her or we've exhausted every opportunity to find her.

"Thousands of hours have gone into this and there's going to be thousands more so it's just onwards and upwards - this is just one step in the process and there's a lot more work to do," she said.

In the middle of it all was Ms Thomas' five-year-old son, Jack, who is now living with relatives.

Ms Hegarty said his welfare was the most important thing now.

She said what Ms Thomas did for a living should not influence the way people thought about her.

"We've never referred to her as an escort, when we've been asked about her occupation we've not resiled from the fact that that was her occupation, but it's not a defining thing about her so first and foremost in our minds is that she was a mother and she will never get to hold her son again," she said.

Police were also investigating Ms Thomas' Remuera home, Callaghan's home and other Auckland properties.

"Our objective is to find Carmen and to resolve the whole mystery as much as we can and to enable the family and her loved ones to find a dignified resting place for her," Ms Hegarty said.

Yesterday, investigation head Detective Inspector Mark Benefield was visibly upset when he announced Callaghan's arrest, and that police believed Ms Thomas' body had been dismembered.

He had the difficult task of giving her mother the grim news.

"While she is pleased to have an update, it is very difficult to have to tell her that we believe Carmen has been dismembered and disposed of," he said.

On a Facebook page dedicated to finding her, Ms Thomas' relative Carol Louise Lavagna thanked the police for their "fantastic work".

When the arrest was announced, she just wrote "thank you - thank you - thank you".

- NZPA