Carmen murder: Police scour home and workplace

Auckland detectives search and remove items at one of Mansons' construction sites in Victoria St in the central city. Photo / Greg Bowker

Brad Callaghan's Remuera home was a hive of activity yesterday morning as police scoured it for evidence connected to the disappearance of Carmen Thomas.

Contractors completing work in Sonia Ave in the affluent suburb watched as police arrived about 9am.

At first they thought someone had simply parked in the wrong place. Then they saw plainclothes police officers and police dogs arrive as a black Nissan Pulsar was towed from the property.

The property has since been cordoned off, a line of police emergency tape blocking access to a shared driveway and another stretched across the driveway to Callaghan's home.

The property is divided into three separate flats.

Neighbours, who were allowed to pass through the police tape, were reluctant to speak to the Herald yesterday but were clearly stunned to share a property with an accused killer.

There was little sign of movement at the house yesterday.

A child's pushchair could be seen in one room, and children's toys and a teddy bear were lying on a bunk in the bedroom next door.

Two officers from Environmental Science and Research, who provide forensic services to police, emerged from the property carrying bags of evidence which they loaded into a car about 4.30pm, shortly before leaving the scene.

Residents spoken to yesterday had not noticed police officers in the area before.

Just 2.5km away, outside Ms Thomas' home, which is also in Remuera, children happily played on the street, laughing and riding their bikes last night.

Neighbours said it was unsettling that Ms Thomas was believed to have been killed there. "It's not so nice," one neighbour said.

One man said he saw a police car outside his house on Monday night.

"They were rummaging through the bins just on the side there."

Six wheelie bins stood lined up against the side of the man's house. Two smaller blue recycling crates were stacked on top of each other.

The man said the officers were in uniform and went through the bins thoroughly before leaving.

Another woman said she had never come across Ms Thomas. "Only my daughter saw her once. It's not something you want to hear about in your street, but these things happen."

The woman said police had spoken to all the neighbours in the cul-de-sac weeks ago.

Another neighbour said that the incident was "unsettling but it's not something I'm going to lose sleep over".

As Callaghan was arrested at the Glen Innes police station, detectives were also seen at Mansons' headquarters in Parnell, before heading to the construction site in Victoria St that had previously been the focus of police investigations.

Four detectives entered the site office at 10.45am for about 90 minutes before emerging with cardboard boxes and sealed brown envelopes. They then drove around the block before parking outside the new Telecom building, where they searched Callaghan's office.