No suspects in Feilding killings

Despite the best efforts of 30 police, bolstered by Search and Rescue and Dive Squad officers, there are no suspects in the killing of Feilding friends Ted Ferguson and Margaret Waldin.

Nearly a week after they were last seen alive, the officer in charge of the case, Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan, says he has no list of people to pin the killings on.

"I don't like the word 'suspect'. Everyone we're talking to is a person of interest, but people of interest could be excluded within minutes by talking to them when it becomes obvious they have no connection."

He said DNA and fingerprint sampling of the pair's friends and family did not make them suspects.

"We need to eliminate people who have legitimately been at Ted's flat over the course of time, and they have been very understanding about this."

Rangimarie Flats resident May MacDonald, 81, said police had taken footwear from all the men in the council complex for DNA testing, but not the women's footwear.

Specialist squads have searched rooftops and the Makino Stream for a weapon, and Mr Sheridan said police were keeping an open mind about what it might be.

"Both Margaret and Ted suffered stab wounds, so it was most probably a knife, but we don't want to reduce ourselves to that line of thinking."

Police are also as yet unable to determine a time of death for the pair, whose bodies were found at 8am on Sunday in Mr Ferguson's Bowen St flat.

However, Mr Sheridan said all the information collected so far pointed to a killing on the Friday night. The last people known to have seen the pair alive say they returned to the flat much earlier than previously thought.

Ken Heap and Mr Ferguson's step-daughter, Rose Blake, were drinking with Mrs Waldin at the Manchester Tavern on the Friday, the last time a positive sighting of her was made.

They say Mr Ferguson left the bar between 8pm and 8.30pm, followed 10 minutes later by Mrs Waldin.

Patrons earlier said they thought Mr Ferguson had left about midnight, and Mrs Waldin before that.

Ms Blake discounted Mr Ferguson's holiday money as a motive for the killing, saying that only she and Mr Ferguson knew of the plan to go to Wanganui for a while.

Mr Ferguson's sister says the killer probably walked in through an unlocked door then locked it shut on the way out.

Betty Ferguson, who also lives in Feilding, said her brother never locked his doors at night, believing he was safe.

She said Mr Ferguson probably died defending Mrs Waldin.

When his friend stayed the night, as she often did, she opted for the couch, which was where the killer was likely to have found her, Ms Ferguson said.

"My guess is Teddy heard a ruckus and got up to see if Margaret was all right and when he went out, he's seen this joker ...

"I just think, knowing Ted, he would have done his best to save her and that's when she must have got the knife and then they came and gothim."

Police told Ms Ferguson that Mrs Waldin's body was more severely wounded than her brother's, which had bruising to the face and fewer stab wounds.

Sequence of events

Edward "Ted" Henry James Ferguson, 73, and Margaret Theresa Waldin, 76, were stabbed to death in Mr Ferguson's unit at the Rangimarie Flats, Bowen St, Feilding.

* The pair were last seen on Friday evening.

* Their bodies were found last Sunday morning after a worried neighbour phoned police.

* Mrs Waldin's funeral will be held today and Mr Ferguson's on Tuesday.

- NZPA