Pair at centre of triple homicide investigation wed as teens
The pair at the centre of a triple homicide investigation in Rotorua married as teenagers and had spoken about their dream to build a future together.
Police found two children dead and a critically injured woman at a Glenholme property about 10.30pm on Monday. The woman died at the scene.
Police have opened a homicide investigation into the deaths.
One of the children was aged 3 years old, the other 11 months.
On Tuesday, police charged a man with assaulting a person he was in a family relationship with.
His identity, and those of the three homicide victims, are suppressed.
He was scheduled to reappear in court on October 2. Police confirmed on Thursday no further charges had been laid.
The man and the woman he is accused of assaulting, previously shared their story of meeting, marrying and getting pregnant in their late teen years.
They described each other as the love of their life, and spoke of wanting to spend the rest of their lives together.
They talked of their dreams of travelling together with their children and creating a home of their own.
A hearse at the scene of a triple homicide investigation in Rotorua on Tuesday evening. Photo / Ben Fraser
Acting Bay of Plenty Police district commander Inspector Logan Marsh told the Rotorua Daily Post last night the forensic examination of the property “remains ongoing today”.
“Police and other specialist staff are continuing work to determine the circumstances behind the tragedy.”
Reassurance patrols in the wider Glenholme area will continue.
He did not address a question about the relationships between the children, woman and man.
Marsh previously described the scene as “complex” and said the investigation would “take some time”.
Police are supporting the family and staff involved, he said.
Locals have been placing tributes outside the property, including flowers and a doll of Toy Story character, Jessie.
Flowers and toys laid outside the Rotorua property where a woman and two children died on Monday. Photo / Ben Fraser
Lynn Doak, who lives in the same street, placed flowers on Wednesday.
She told the Rotorua Daily Post she heard arguing and “three pops” on the night of the tragedy.
She described the deaths as “terrible”.
Doak, who has lived in the area for 24 years, said it was a quiet night on Monday when she heard a disturbance at the property.
“What I heard was two people arguing, a man and a woman, and a lady screamed,” she said.
“There was more argy-bargy and then there were three pops. I said to my husband, ‘Those bloody kids and their crackers again’, because they come up the street and throw crackers up your drive.
“It would have been just after 9pm.”
Doak said she thought nothing more of the sounds and did not hear anything further that night.
The neighbourhood was quiet and nothing like this had happened before, she said.
Rotorua resident Lynn Doak. Photo / Ben Fraser
“This is a really good part of town,” she said.
Doak had not met the family but believed they hadn’t been at the address long.
She said she felt a deep sense of sadness.
“I just said to my husband, I feel like it’s my kids, you know. Hell, it’s terrible.
“You never hear of this sort of thing happening.
“They didn’t deserve that.”
Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.
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