I've lost part of me says Kylie's Dad

By SCOTT INGLIS

Barry Jones should have been sailing with his daughter Kylie this weekend.

Instead, he is preparing to bury her.

A shattered Mr Jones yesterday broke his silence over his daughter's murder in an exclusive interview with the Weekend Herald. He told how he had been robbed of his "little girl."

Kylie Jones was viciously stabbed about her upper body and left naked in a shallow stream in Eastview Reserve on Tuesday night, 150m from her home in Line Rd, Glen Innes.

Mr Jones, a boatbuilder, fought to maintain his composure as he spoke of his daughter's death.

"My reaction is just total anger that someone could do that to my little girl. I just know I've lost part of me."

Mr Jones and his wife, Jeanette, who live in Matakana, north of Auckland, had planned to spend part of the weekend on their yacht, Czarina, with Kylie and her partner, Aaron Stenbeck.

They were to have raced in the Sandspit Yacht Club winter series around Kawau Bay. Kylie, a keen sailor and diver, would have crewed with Aaron. Last year, they won their division.

Sailing, her father says proudly, was one of Kylie's many interests and talents.

Kylie Sheree Jones was born in Warkworth on July 17, 1977. She was put forward a year at Matakana Primary School and from an early age showed a flair for writing and English.

She played netball and rode horses at the weekend with her elder sister, Donna, and attended Mahurangi College in Warkworth.

After finishing the seventh form, Kylie spent a year in Sweden on a Rotary exchange.

She stayed with a family in a tiny town 400km north of Stockholm and attended school.

There she learned to speak fluent Swedish and ski.

The blond, brown-eyed young woman returned to Warkworth and, after working in various odd jobs around her hometown in 1994, shifted to Auckland the following year.

She was hired by Transpacfic Marine and managed its wholesale book arm, David's Marine Books. At night, she worked as a waitress at The Yacht Club restaurant at Westhaven.

But journalism remained her goal.

Just over a year ago, Kylie began working at Eye magazine as a receptionist.

She was quickly promoted to journalist and subeditor and was involved in the magazine's production.

"She would work through until the early hours of the morning to get these articles done," her father says.

Three and a half years ago, she met Aaron Stenbeck through mutual friends and their relationship blossomed. They bought their home 18 months ago and spent many weekends diving, fishing and boating.

They planned to marry soon on a beach on Slipper Island and hoped to travel overseas.

Since Tuesday's tragedy, Aaron has been distraught.

His father, Greg, says the 28-year-old is lost for words.

"It built up to a point where he sees a photo of her and he bursts out crying.

"He walks around holding a photo of her. He hasn't slept since. He hasn't eaten."

Mr Jones wants justice and to see his daughter's killer punished.

He will bury Kylie on Monday and pleads for anyone who knows anything to ring the police.

"Just think, one day they could be in the situation we're in."

Police, meanwhile, are still trying to piece together Kylie's last movements and find out which bus she took home. It is likely that she took one of two number 625 buses from Downtown to Glen Innes and was killed walking home shortly after 6 pm.

Today police will block the stream where her body was found and comb its bed for more clues.

One of her black platform-soled shoes was found in the stream yesterday.

On May 13, just over three weeks before the killing, a woman was attacked in the Glen Innes Pak 'N Save carpark near the reserve where Kylie's body was found.

A witness, Geraldine McGinley, says a Maori or Pacific Island man attacked the woman by her car, and began kicking her on the ground.

The woman cried out for help.

Ms McGinley ran over and the man fled, but two security guards from the supermarket caught him.

Ms McGinley held the shaking victim to calm her but left before police arrived.

The Herald understands that a man was arrested, but police last night did not know if he was on bail or in custody.

They said the murder inquiry team would be looking at the attack.