King Country family grieves phone call's tragic result

By KEVIN TAYLOR

It began with a phone call to Australia to break up a relationship and ended a day later in blood.

An apparent murder-suicide during a horror few hours last week has devastated a Taumarunui family.

The tragic chain of events began last Tuesday when Lauren Shepherd, of Taumarunui, rang the man she had lived with for at least a year, apparently to end their relationship.

What happened next is still being pieced together by detectives but they do know that the next day Danny Grant, who had been living in Sydney for two months, flew into Auckland.

The 30-year-old former Taumarunui man arrived at 7.30 that night, hired a blue Toyota Corolla from Hertz in Auckland and drove to a Hamilton house.

Police say he left Hamilton with a rifle, and, after a two-hour drive, arrived at the two-storey fibre-cement house he and his 21-year-old ex-partner had owned in Kururau Rd on the outskirts of Taumarunui.

The next morning about 6, a farmer heard a car crash on an easy corner on Whatawhata Rd, about 13km from Hamilton. He then heard a shot.

The farmer found Mr Grant in the vehicle, a bullet wound in his head.

He was still alive when the police arrived, but died while being taken from the Toyota. Police say it appears he took his own life, and they believe the same gun was used to kill Miss Shepherd.

Two hours after Mr Grant was found, Miss Shepherd had not turned up for work as a customer services representative at King Country Energy.

Her mother, Lorraine Gawith, went to check the house and found her daughter lying in her bed, shot in the head.

A family friend said yesterday that Miss Shepherd's family did not want to talk. "I think the family would prefer just to be left to grieve in their own way."

Detective Sergeant Derek Webb said yesterday: "Basically we have eliminated all other suspects and are concentrating on Danny Grant's movements."

Miss Shepherd was a popular young woman who had lived in Taumarunui all her life.

A local golf club member, who did not want to be named, said Mr Grant was something of a mystery man.

"To be honest, I did not know what he did," said the man. "He was always a bit of a showoff and a loud-mouth."

Mr Grant was said to have acted younger than his years and was also described as having grandiose ideas.

He had lived in Taumarunui for three years, working at a variety of jobs, among them as a security guard and a waiter.

He had also been a tutor in a Training Opportunities Programme run by the Maniapoto Training Agency in the town.

The mayor of Ruapehu District, Weston Kirton, said that he had had dealings with Mr Grant last year when he was involved in a training scheme getting young people working on farms.

Police want members of the public and any friends of Mr Grant to come forward with information about him between the time he arrived in New Zealand and his death.

Detective Sergeant Webb said police had sent a number of items for forensic testing to positively connect the two deaths.

The deaths would probably be referred to the coroner.