Aisling Symes - found dead near her home

"The body of a young girl, which was discovered from a drain at a Henderson property near where toddler Aisling Symes disappeared a week ago, has been removed from the scene.

The body was removed shortly after midnight on Monday and to the Auckland Hospital mortuary.

It's also been confirmed that the body is that of a young girl."

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/body-found-in-search-toddler-removed-3069289

AnnaEsse wrote:

Autumn wrote:I gree, WTT, but your post implied that the reason the police failed to seal it off was because there was 'no evidence'. A young girl had disappeared and their parents were screaming 'abduction' from the outset - what more evidence did they need that apartment 5A was a potential crime scene???????

Any evidence that a crime had been committed? A child's bed looking undisturbed and an apartment that didn't look as if someone had broken in. The Symes' house from where Aisling disappeared was not sealed off from the outset because it didn't look like a crime scene: it was said that the child had wandered off. Similarly with Madeleine, the police thought she had probably woke and wandered. It is only now that a body has been found that the NZ house has been cordoned off. Where there is no evidence of a crime, why seal off a property?

AnnaEsse, I think it would be standard procedure (in this country anyway) to seal off the houses. The police have to look at things objectively. The parents may or be not be reponsible. Even if it didn't look like a crime scene. People who commit crimes clean up crime scenes, but nearly always leave forensic evidence, i.e blood which can be seen under artificial light with luminol. I am not saying this is the case here, but that's what should happen.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26201957-23109,00.html

The body of a young child has been recovered tonight from a drain at a New Zealand property near where toddler Aisling Symes disappeared a week ago.
Inspector Gary Davey who is heading the investigation said police were speaking to Aisling's family tonight.

He said the body was recovered in a wooded area in West Auckland at about 8pm local time (6pm AEDT).

"The immediate area has been cordoned off and is being treated as a crime scene,'' Inspector Davey told NZPA.

He said it was not known how long the body had been in the drain, nor how it had gotten there.

"I know you have a lot of questions and so do I, he said.

"Over the next few hours and days we will work through those questions.

"The child has not been identified, nor can we confirm what gender it is at this stage.''

Firefighters, using concrete cutters, and police had been excavating for about two hours on the property where the two-year-old was last seen a week ago.

The property adjoins the back of Aisling's deceased grandparents' home.

AnnaEsse wrote:

Autumn wrote:I gree, WTT, but your post implied that the reason the police failed to seal it off was because there was 'no evidence'. A young girl had disappeared and their parents were screaming 'abduction' from the outset - what more evidence did they need that apartment 5A was a potential crime scene???????

Any evidence that a crime had been committed? A child's bed looking undisturbed and an apartment that didn't look as if someone had broken in. The Symes' house from where Aisling disappeared was not sealed off from the outset because it didn't look like a crime scene: it was said that the child had wandered off. Similarly with Madeleine, the police thought she had probably woke and wandered. It is only now that a body has been found that the NZ house has been cordoned off. Where there is no evidence of a crime, why seal off a property?

Whilst the main priority obviously had to be to immediately look for Madeleine, since if she had wandered off into the night she would be in danger and had to be found without delay. Imagine the uproar if the police had wasted precious time sealing off the scene and the child was later found to have had an accident somewhere in the vicinity during that time? Having said that it does not obviate the need to seal off what could be a potential crime scene. There should have been absolutely no question of allowing anyone to remove anything from that apartment. It would have taken one policeman perhaps 2 minutes to move everyone out, close and lock the entrance door and seal it. When a child's life is in the balance the idea that you don't inconvenience anyone by shutting them out of their apartment is quite ludicrous. I'm sure the Portuguese police will have taken this lesson to heart and will not fail to act accordingly the next time someone is reported to be missing.

Dogs were brought in.
Is this spaniel Eddie or Keela?
On the pictures? 9 of 22.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2953153/Body-found-in-hunt-for-Aisling

At first I thought the child must have fell down the drain which is a tragedy. But then why would the police seal it off as a crime scene. But we will have to wait and see. It is really extremely rare for a total stranger to abduct a child of that age. And the police know this. Poor little soul.

maebee wrote:http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26201957-23109,00.html

The body of a young child has been recovered tonight from a drain at a New Zealand property near where toddler Aisling Symes disappeared a week ago.
Inspector Gary Davey who is heading the investigation said police were speaking to Aisling's family tonight.

He said the body was recovered in a wooded area in West Auckland at about 8pm local time (6pm AEDT).

"The immediate area has been cordoned off and is being treated as a crime scene,'' Inspector Davey told NZPA.

He said it was not known how long the body had been in the drain, nor how it had gotten there.

"I know you have a lot of questions and so do I, he said.

"Over the next few hours and days we will work through those questions.

"The child has not been identified, nor can we confirm what gender it is at this stage.''

Firefighters, using concrete cutters, and police had been excavating for about two hours on the property where the two-year-old was last seen a week ago.

The property adjoins the back of Aisling's deceased grandparents' home.

Sorry to be blunt, but it sounds as if it's been there for a wee while. :(

I don't think that the dog is either Eddie or keela and the handler does not look like Martin Grime either. I think springers are quite widely used in police canine work. Pretty sure I read that the gun dog breeds make very good police search and rescue /drug/ cadaver dogs.

Bridgieboo wrote:I don't think that the dog is either Eddie or keela and the handler does not look like Martin Grime either. I think springers are quite widely used in police canine work. Pretty sure I read that the gun dog breeds make very good police search and rescue /drug/ cadaver dogs.

It is definitely not Keela, she has a brown "mask" right across her face. Eddie is the one with the white nose. But I don't think it's him, either. I feel sorry for that poor policeman in charge. He looks gutted.

Thank you, Famous Grouse.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10602873

Discovery dashes hopes and raises questions


Neighbours were last night asking how a child missing for a week and feared taken by kidnappers could be found only metres from where she disappeared.
"They reckon they searched everything twice, but she's right under their noses," one Henderson man said.
He believed more questions would be asked of police.
Deborah Gregory, of nearby Maurice Borich Place, wanted to know why it had taken police so long to find Aisling when she was so close.
The neighbourhood had been really quiet over the past week, and the police presence had been incredible, she said.
About 100 grief-stricken people gathered on Pomaria Rd last night, Many had helped in the search, placed brochures on their car windscreens or done whatever they could to find Aisling Symes.
A neighbour, whose property overlooks the area where police were digging yesterday, said he had been hoping the little girl's body would not be found.
"I don't even want to know what they are doing. It's too sad and it is far too close to home. How the little girl's body arrived where it did will be on everybody's mind."
Some stood with candles last night, others stood wearing pyjamas. They were a wide range of ages, from children to the elderly.
They were there for the same sad reason - to pay their respects to a child they never knew, but who touched their hearts as if she was one of their own.
Police hunting for Aisling were last week confident she was not in the area where the body was found last night.
Two days after she disappeared, the officer in charge of the investigation, Inspector Gary Davey, said police were confident she was not in the area and so were looking at a possible abduction, "given her age and the possibility of how far she would move under her own steam".
He also said it was unlikely she had been swept out to sea, and police believed she could be with a stranger.
Police were "keeping an open mind", he said, but were increasingly convinced Aisling had been kidnapped.
"We have searched and not found her, which makes it more likely we are looking at someone having picked up Aisling."
More than 40 officers worked on the criminal investigation, checking "people of concern" in the area and looking at any recent reports of suspicious behaviour.
Mr Davey said two sightings of Aisling on Longburn Rd, around the time she disappeared on Monday, indicated the most likely possibility was an opportunistic abduction.
"As far as we know, we believe Aisling hasn't wandered off."
More than 100 police and volunteers searched the area late on Monday and on Tuesday last week when Aisling disappeared, but could not find the toddler.

AND

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/new-zealand-police-hunting-missing-toddler-aisling-symes-find-body-in-drain-14528849.html

New Zealand police hunting missing toddler Aisling Symes find body in drain
Monday, 12 October 2009

Police last night found a child's body in a stormwater pipe metres from the Henderson property where 2-year-old Aisling Symes disappeared last week.
The two-year-old, whose father Alan is from Co Waterford, disappeared in the Auckland suburb of Henderson last Monday.
Inquiry head Inspector Gary Davey told a hastily arranged press conference about 9.30pm: "It is with tremendous sadness that I have to report that shortly before 8pm, police and fire staff located the body of a young child in a drain near the address in Longburn Rd."
Mr Davey said police were dealing with Aisling's family, but he could not confirm the body was that of the missing toddler.
"It's too early to know how the child got there, or how long the child was in the drain."
Earlier, he said that although police had no direct evidence the toddler was there, "there has always been a possibility".
The body was found in a stormwater drain at 5 Longburn Rd, about 20m from the home of Aisling's deceased grandparents at No 7, from which she went missing a week ago.
Forensic teams were working late into the night at the site, which police said was being treated as a crime scene.
The Waitakere City Council's group manager of asset development, Tony Miguel, said council staff were called to Longburn Rd earlier in the day to help in the hunt for Aisling.
"They [the police] asked us to put a camera up the pipeline, and it appears the body of a child is in there."
The drain, at the end of the driveway at 5 Longburn Rd, was about 38cm wide.
It is understood the manhole cover was in place when police and council staff arrived, but it was likely there were other entry points to the drain, Mr Miguel said.
Waitakere City Mayor Bob Harvey described the find as "the worst possible outcome".
It came after police spent the afternoon and evening excavating vacant land behind the property, beside a creek.
Mr Harvey said council staff had told him a body had been recovered from a stormwater culvert. The discovery was a terrible tragedy for the family, he said.
"My thoughts are with them at this time. I want to thank the searchers, the volunteers and the police who never gave up the search for this precious little girl."
Long-time Longburn Rd resident Ian Holmes, who lives two doors away and knew Aisling's grandparents well, was shocked to learn a body had been found.
Mr Holmes, who was among hundreds of Aucklanders who turned out to search a tributary of Henderson Creek where it was initially feared Aisling might have disappeared, said he was about to "bawl my eyes out".
"I'm just gutted ... For God's sake, it's unbelievable," he said.
"We've lived here 30 years and known her grandparents very well."
Mr Holmes said he had heard the noise of a digging machine coming from the direction of Pomaria Rd yesterday afternoon, but did not associate it with the search for Aisling.
From about 4pm yesterday, banging and clanging could be heard coming from Longburn Rd.
Police stood guard at properties with access to the bush area above the creek, and a tarpaulin was erected to cover the search area.
Police and Fire Service staff worked among the trees, hauling out stumps, buckets of soil, and concrete cuttings.

It does!The other little girl is old enough to be questioned ,makes you wonder what she might say !

The body has been confirmed as being that of Aisling.

"The body of two-year-old Aisling Symes was found in a drain last night near the home she was last seen at eight days ago.

The body, which was discovered in a drainpipe under a Henderson property shortly before 8pm last night, was removed from the scene in a silver hearse shortly after midnight and taken to Auckland Hospital mortuary.

A post mortem examination will be carried out at 9am this morning.

The area where she was found is under guard and a scene examination will continue today.

Inspector Gary Davey confirmed a child's body had been found just before 8pm. "It is with tremendous sorrow that I report the finding of this young child."

"It's too early to tell how she got there," Mr Davey said.

Police were speaking with Aisling's parents Alan and Angela last night and the family said last night that police had told them the body was Aisling."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2957294/Aisling-police-find-body-next-door

Ive just watched that video clip, something certainly dosen't sit well at all, IMO these 2 know exactly what happened to that little girl. I hope Im wrong, but I dont think I will be some how.

RIP

woodward wrote:Sorry,a late entry into the "crime scene" debate

When a toddler disappeared from his grandparents garden in this country,search teams were mounted ,including,as it was daylight,a helicopter reconnaisance which led to the child being spotted face down in a neighbours pond, the grandparents house was not sealed off nor treated as a crime scene

When Shannon Matthews was reported missing ,her house was not sealed off as a crime scene.

In neither of these cases were our "borders" with Scotland and Wales sealed


In PDL the local GNR were very quick to organise a search including dogs and remove all occupants from 5a as soon as was practically possible ,despite the opinion of the first officers on the scene that there was no sign of a break in an the child had most probably wandered off. The shutters were being dusted for finger prints as soon as light was available early the following morning and an all points beware notice and a check of vehicles on major exit routes including ports had been set up within hours
In my opinion it was the fastest most efficient response possible in the circumstances not at all helped by the behaviuor of the parents ,their friends and the media frenzy instigated by them.

Same here, when little Scott Simpson disappeared from outside his house, the house wasn't sealed off either.

very sad poor kid

Thank you Woodward and TFG. I couldn't think of any definite cases, but it just seemed logical to me that if there was no reason to suspect that a crime had been committed in a house, there was no reason to actually seal the premises. And the parents shouting abduction is not evidence of a crime. Dr Amaral's book gives details of the searches that went on in the first few days, on land and at sea and by helicopter. As for the fingerprinting on May 4th, we know that the only prints found on the window were those of Kate McCann. Of an abductor, none: no fingerprints, no glove prints anywhere.

Back on topic! There will be a press conference at 8am, which means 8pm UK time.

"Police to reveal more details about grim find in West Auckland this morning

Police will hold a press conference at 8.00 o'clock this morning to reveal more details about the grim find in West Auckland's Longburn Road last night.
Media and hundreds of neighbours gathered in the street last night as the head of the inquiry into missing toddler Aisling Symes, Inspector Gary Davey, confirmed that the body of a small child had been found.

The body was transported to the Auckland City mortuary late last night and the scene has been cordoned off as Police investigate how long the child had been in the drain.

A post mortem will be held at 9.00 o'clock this morning."

http://www.bigfm.co.nz/News/Police-to-reveal-more-details-about-grim-find-in-West-Auckland-this-morning/tabid/55/articleID/4918/cat/1/Default.aspx

Lillyofthevalley wrote:Ive just watched that video clip, something certainly dosen't sit well at all, IMO these 2 know exactly what happened to that little girl. I hope Im wrong, but I dont think I will be some how.

RIP

my thoughts to lilly poor kid

Rest in peace Aisling.

Perhaps she was put in the drain after the Police had finished their search? This is a scenario that has been discussed in relation to Madeleine before I believe. Most likely she wandered off and fell in somehow.

RIP Little Aisling


I dont understand how her mother realised immediately she was missing and Aisling was found only 20 metres away. Surely if the mother was shouting out then her child would have heard her being so nearby.

....Unless she was placed there after the police got there and searched.

"Police had previously searched the drain where the body of Aisling Symes was found last night, the head of the inquiry into her disappearance said this morning.

Inspector Gary Davey this morning told media a police officer had searched the drain earlier in the hunt for the Henderson 2-year-old, entering through a manhole.

Using a torch, the officer estimated he could see five metres in either direction and still had not been able to see Aisling.

Mr Davey said he understood that Aisling's family had also searched the drain and had not seen her.

He told reporters he thought the body had been in the drain the whole time and suspects misadventure though he said he was unable to rule out foul play at this stage."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10602897

RIP Aisling may you dance with angels xxxxxx

"Police have confirmed in a press conference this morning that the body found last night in a drainpipe in Henderson was that of two-year-old missing toddler Aisling Symes.

Police inspector Gary Davey says the body was removed from the scene at 1am this morning.

Mr Davey says the drain was thoroughly searched by officers yesterday, with special search techniques used to check the drain.

He says cameras were used to reach 9-10 metres into the drain, but the search proved fruitless.

A decision was then made to dig up part of the drain, a digger was called in and it took five hours until Aisling's body was finally found inside.

Mr Davey says it is too early to tell how Aisling got into the drain, but police believe no foul play was involved.

"I believe it is more likely or not that she was there from the start and I believe it is misadventure," he says.

He says police are still treating the Henderson property as a crime scene, and that they are keeping an "open mind" about the situation.

The Asian woman believed to be the last person to see Aisling has been identified and they are attempting to locate her, according to police.

A police press conference is currently in progress, starting at 8am.

This is breaking news - more details to follow."

http://www.3news.co.nz/Body-found-in-drainpipe-confirmed-as-Aisling-/tabid/423/articleID/125105/cat/640/Default.aspx