Wallace's family relieved at arrest

Michael Scott Wallace is seen being arrested by police in this video taken by a member of the public. Picture / Herald on Sunday

The chief suspect in the murder of German hitchhiker Birgit Brauer was arrested in Manawatu last night after a dramatic high-speed police chase by car and helicopter.

Last night Wallace's brother, Colin Wallace, said it was a "relief to the family" Wallace had been caught.

Eyewitness Graham Malone watched as Michael Scott Wallace, 44, made his final dash for freedom – toward a neighbour's house in the small rural settlement of Glen Oroua, with a swarm of police behind.

"He looked a bit flustered when he ran out of the car," said Mr Malone, of Sansons Rd. "Then he was concentrating on running."

The arrest in Glen Oroua, 16km west of Palmerston North, came at 7.20pm – an hour after police near Foxton spotted the 1988 Nissan Safari linked with Wallace.

It had been reported stolen from Hokio Beach in Levin, where officers had the last confirmed sighting of Wallace.

The arrest came three weeks after Ms Brauer, 28, was found dead in Lucy's Gully, north of New Plymouth, on September 20. She had been beaten and stabbed.

Last night she was laid to rest in her hometown of Dresden, in Germany.

Police from across Manawatu were mobilised early last night to converge on areas of State Highway 1, with instructions to use road spikes if the car would not stop.

At the same time, the Life Flight Trust rescue helicopter in Wellington was used to ferry armed offenders squad officers to the area. The Safari sped north, at speeds up to 135km/h, according to police sources.

When it reached Sanson, it turned towards Palmerston North, then into the maze of backroads that cross the Horowhenua plains.

Farmer Trevor McTavish had gone out to the road just after watching the evening news, and was stunned to watch the car that police had issued an alert over race past him. "This guy in this grey car came around the corner. I could quite clearly see him behind the wheel.

"He was a bit stressed looking."

Mr McTavish watched Wallace swing the wheel late, forcing the Safari hard into the corner at high speed. He said it was fortunate the four-wheel drive stayed upright. "He didn't look quite like he knew where he was going.

"He was going quite quick, as you would be with five police cars and a helicopter behind you."

The police pursuit was close and quick - Mr McTavish did not expect Wallace to get far.

It is believed police blocked off Sansons Rd, where the Safari came to a stop outside the Malones' house. Kirsty Ryburn, Mr Malone's partner, said Wallace got out of the Safari, focused on the neighbour's drive and "it just looked like he had panicked and thought 'help, there's a road'."

Mr Malone said a "crescendo" of police sirens and the helicopter forced the couple to look out of the window. They saw Wallace and "four or five police cars and a helicopter".

Seeing armed police, the Malones became fearful for their two children, who were already scared.

Mr Malone said they turned off all inside lights and led the children to a back bedroom, as far from danger as possible.

Nearby, sharemilker Lisa Amstalden's dinner was interrupted by the noise of the chase.

Looking out the window, she watched the final moments after Wallace left the Safari.

"He took off and jumped the fence and was heading towards our cows. There was no cover; there was no nothing. They were always going to catch him."

When Mr Malone and Ms Ryburn looked out of the window again, Wallace had vanished towards the neighbours' house, pursued by police. Minutes later, captured on a video kept handy for the birth of the couple's third child, due in two weeks, Wallace can be seen coming back down the driveway, escorted by a dozen police.

The videotape shows a cluster of police, armed offenders squad members and police dogs around a group of police cars and the black and silver Safari.

Police escorted Wallace back down the drive. He looked downcast and unkempt, with little expression on his face. The officers surrounding him were calm, and had him under control. He was put into a police car and taken to the Levin police station for questioning.

He has not been formally charged, but has been arrested on an outstanding charge of drink driving.

Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward, head of Operation Lucy, the investigation into the murder of Ms Brauer, said last night: "Michael Scott Wallace has been apprehended on warrant by police at 7.20pm in Sanson. He was located in the 1988 Nissan 4WD Safari motor vehicle reported stolen recently."

The beaten and stabbed body of Ms Brauer, 28, was found at Lucy's Gully, near Oakura in Taranaki, by a jogger on September 20. She had been stabbed in the chest and had suffered severe head injuries. She was last seen getting into a Toyota Hilux 4WD.

Wallace had been in possession of a stolen Hilux found abandoned on the banks of the Ohau River near Levin on September 28.

It had been reported stolen to police by its owner, Himatangi businessman Brent Cleverley, in August. It has undergone forensic testing and police expect those results to be available this week.

Ms Brauer's two backpacks found hidden at a lake near Eltham in Taranaki on Monday are also being forensically tested.

Yesterday's developments came after police went public with the identity of Wallace.

After a public appeal for sightings this week, police received hundreds of calls from around the country with some people claiming they had seen him in the South Island, Wellington, Napier, and Auckland.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY