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Home / New Zealand

Film studied for clue to missing girl (+video)

By Jarrod Booker
NZ Herald·
11 Apr, 2008 05:00 PM2 mins to read

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Photo / John Borren

Photo / John Borren

KEY POINTS:

Missing Christchurch schoolgirl Marie Davis uses an online nickname that is also the name of a movie in which a young person is abducted and held for ransom.

Marie, 15, a keen photographer, has not been seen since last weekend, causing grave fears among her family and police.
Her mother, Janet Davis, thinks her daughter has been taken against her will.

The Weekend Herald has viewed Marie's profile on the Bebo social networking website, in which she uses the username "towards-darkness".

Towards Darkness is the title of a 2007 film by first-time director Antonio Negret, which details "a tense tale of a young photographer who is abducted and held for ransom as his desperate parents scramble to raise the money that could save their child's life".

Asked yesterday if the parallels between the online username and film had been looked at, Detective Senior Sergeant Virginia Le Bas said: "We are looking at all of those things." She would not comment further.

Mrs Davis yesterday made a tearful plea for her daughter's return in the hope she would somehow hear it.

"Darling, I miss you so much. You are my baby, and my heart and soul, and just come home."

Marie's disappearance was said to be uncharacteristic. She usually kept constant contact with friends via text messaging.

Among a host of possible sightings, one of the most promising - at Christchurch Hospital on Thursday night - was yesterday ruled out.

"I can't say what I'm thinking without cracking up [in tears]. I just fear the worst," Mrs Davis said.

Police have been examining the Davis family home in the northern Christchurch suburb of Papanui, where Marie was dropped off by a friend's mother on Saturday night before she went missing.

Her computer is also being looked at by police.

"My daughter is very intelligent and she told me about two weeks ago the password she has in the computer is uncrackable," Mrs Davis said.

"So it's going to take a while to get anything out of her computer."

While Marie had been missing only seven days, Mrs Davis last saw her 20 days ago because she had been visiting her late husband's family.

"Marie is a good girl and she is not a teenage runaway. She loves her home comforts and this is totally out of character."

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