Sunday, 13 November 2011 - 4:00pm |
National News

Teen's wallet found at Riccarton Mall

2 min read

Christchurch police investigating the homicide of Jade Bayliss say a wallet belonging to the 13-year old was found at Riccarton Mall early on the afternoon that she died.

Detective Inspector Greg Williams says a member of the public found the wallet on the rooftop carpark at the mall soon after 12.30pm on Thursday and handed it in to the mall.

"We have positively identified this wallet as belonging to Jade and are now making enquiries as to how it came to be at the mall, including reviewing security footage of the car park."

Detective Inspector Williams says it is unlikely that Jade left her Barrington Street home on Thursday morning. "The likely scenario is that something had happened to her by the time this wallet was found in Riccarton.

Over the weekend Police have also established that gardening contractors visited the Barrington Street property to mow the lawns during the latter part of Thursday morning.

"We have been speaking to the contractors today and this has been helpful.

"Our focus remains on understanding what happened at Jade's home that morning. We have a great deal of information already, which we are working through, and we are putting together a good picture of events."

Detective Inspector Williams says several people have contacted police in response to appeals last night for information about the movements of a green Mitsubishi Diamante station wagon.

"We've received a number of reports of sightings of the vehicle in the area of interest. These have been helpful in providing a more detailed picture of that car's movements on the Thursday morning.

"We are continuing to contact people who have called in with information, and we would still like to hear from anyone who may have seen the car."

Police have had around 35 staff working on the investigation each day throughout the weekend.

Area canvassing around the Barrington Street house has continued, as well as at other locations. Forensic examination work at the scene of the homicide is expected to continue at least until Tuesday.

ENDS