Police suspect plan to dump Carmen at sea

Brad Callaghan is charged with murdering his former partner. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A boat belonging to a friend of murder accused Brad Callaghan has been taken by police for forensic testing.

The vessel is believed to have been used in a failed attempt to dispose of the body of Carmen Thomas, who detectives say Callaghan murdered on June 29.

A neighbour of an associate of Callaghan, an Auckland man who has name suppression, said the boat was towed away on Thursday night.

It is understood that a police line of inquiry is that Callaghan and his friend planned to take the remains of Ms Thomas out to sea. But the trip was aborted.

It is believed there was a further failed attempt to dispose of the body parts in the Hunua Ranges, south of Auckland.

It is increasingly believed Ms Thomas is hidden in the Waitakere Ranges, possibly in concrete.

Callaghan, 32, was arrested and charged this week after a 10-week police inquiry.

In the past two days, police have also been searching the house of an associate of Callaghan's in East Auckland.

Neighbours reported that the associate had not been seen since Friday a week ago. Tents have been put up around the house.

Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty said yesterday that police remained at the East Auckland house and would be there as long as it took to complete the search.

She said more than 57 search warrants had been executed before yesterday. Hundreds of items had been collected and forensic scientists had been busy examining them.

Since the arrest, police have also been searching an inner-city construction site.

Yesterday, at least 20 staff from the Fire Service urban search and rescue team and police, including investigation head Inspector Mark Benefield, were at the Manson TCLM site in Victoria St.

Callaghan, Ms Thomas' ex-partner and father of her 5-year-old son, Jack, had worked at the site.

One person at a time was lowered from a crane down a hole about one metre in diameter and spent about an hour at the bottom, sending up buckets of mud and rubble.

Staff at the top sifted through the contents and collected any objects of interest, which included the frame of a pair of reading glasses and what appeared to be a large log of wood, which was inspected by plain-clothed police and put in an evidence bag.

Callaghan was remanded in custody when he appeared in court on Tuesday. Police have been speaking with his pregnant partner, Tanith Butler.

Meanwhile, a fundraising campaign has been launched to bring Ms Thomas' mother back to New Zealand.

Auckland woman Donna Baker said she did not know Ms Thomas but had been moved by what had happened to her.

She wanted to raise money so that the murdered woman's South African-based mother Teresa would be able to fly to New Zealand once her daughter's remains were found.

Any extra money raised would be for Jack, who is now in the care of a relative after his father's arrest.

"I'm a mum myself and I'm doing this because the story has absolutely captured my heart - I'm doing this to help," said Ms Baker, who opened the ANZ Carmen Thomas Fund account yesterday afternoon.

Less than 20 minutes after the account details were posted on Facebook, the first contribution was made.

The account details are: ANZ 01-1822-0030764-00.