John Alan Seymour was found dead at his house. Photo / Dan Jones
By Jimmy Ellingham of RNZ
A 62-year-old man found dead after a house fire in the small Ruapehu settlement of Rangataua was getting his life back on track after a tough decade recovering from serious medical problems, close friends have told RNZ.
John Alan Seymour was found dead during a scene examination of his Kaha St house the day after it was destroyed by fire late last Thursday.
Police now say the fire appeared to have been deliberately lit and have launched a homicide investigation.
Shortly after the blaze took hold police were called to a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 49 near Rangataua, southeast of Ohakune.
Jason Savage, 35, was killed in that crash and RNZ can reveal that he was a boarder at Seymour’s house.
“Police can confirm the vehicle, and the deceased are connected to the Kaha St address,” said Detective Senior Sergeant Varnia Allan, in a statement this week.
“Police are working to establish what exactly has occurred at the Kaha St address.”
Seymour mostly lived alone at his one-storey house but would sometimes take in boarders for periods of time, RNZ understands.
“For the last 12 months of Seymour’s life, he got his act together,” a close friend, who asked not to be named, told RNZ.
“Something changed. John had purpose. He had friends, who were very supportive, around him ... That’s why it’s such a big shock to us.”
Seymour was a fitter, a highly skilled engineer who would travel around New Zealand on different jobs.
However, his life changed more than a decade ago when he suffered a brain aneurysm or bleed.
His friend said Seymour was not found for two days and then spent three months in hospital.
After he was discharged he could not return to his former work, and it took a while to adjust to the change.
But recently he had developed a good network of people around him, and had bought a large lathe, which he kept at a workshop.
He also had a wood splitting business. A sign advertising this is still visible at the front of the charred wreckage of his house.
“He was getting out of bed. He was spending a lot of time at this workshop,” his friend’s partner said.
The pair were out of the district when the fire happened. They said Seymour would have known he could have come to them if he was in trouble.
He was a private man who had been into skiing and had formed close relationships with former colleagues and those he spent time with at his workshop.
He was friendly towards others in Rangataua, a small community he loved, where locals had to be resilient.
They said a planned memorial service for Seymour on Friday would likely be full of people he had met during his time working throughout the country.
“He was just a special person. He would do anything for anyone. He was always willing to stop and have a chat,” his friend said.
“He was in a good space. Bad things have happened to a good guy. It’s devastating to everyone concerned he’s left behind.
“It’s just a shock to everyone.”
A neighbour told RNZ Seymour would often come around and clear her guttering, as he had for the person who lived in the house before her.
He also loved the dogs that lived in the neighbourhood.
Angie Miller said she lived a couple of hundred metres from Seymour’s house.
She had known who he was for almost two decades, but mostly just to wave at. Others in the village were closer.
“My friends say he was a very kind person and very knowledgeable.”
Last Thursday Miller saw flames and had walked closer to the scene for a look but retreated after hearing explosions.
“I was quite worried about the firefighters.”
When RNZ visited the scene, emergency tape fluttered in the chill wind blowing off the slopes of Mt Ruapehu, which loomed in the background.
A sign outside warned of hazards, including the “unstable structure” and a diesel tank.
A burned-out vehicle was parked in front of the house.
Rangataua’s population might hit a couple of hundred, but that would likely be during the winter ski season or summer holidays, and many of the houses are unoccupied most of the time.
Chris Williams lives along Kaha St and saw the fire take hold.
“There were a lot of flames. It was getting to the point where it was just engulfing the house.
“We heard the fire trucks and the alarms. We didn’t take any notice until we smelt the smoke coming our way.”
Williams said he knew Seymour by sight, but not well.
After the fire, police wearing white overalls had combed the scene.
“The next three or four days afterwards were just teaming with police. They asked me what I saw - if I saw anything or any suspicious people.
“There’s no suspicious people here. We all know one another.”
The village was quiet and everyone seemed to mind their own business, Williams said.
-RNZ