Two brothers murdered just months apart
Billy Moore says the best thing about having a large family is the support they give one another in times of need.
It’s that family unity that the 82-year-old father of six is clinging to after the violent deaths of two of his sons within six months of one another.
‘‘What’s the chances of that? The two brothers? They were (the) most cruelest deaths you could think of,’’ he says.
He’s trying to stay strong for his three daughters, who have gathered at his home in Mangere, Auckland, on a rainy Wednesday to pore over photos of their sons and brothers Kimble and Gary Moore.
There’s lots of laughter as they remember the good times. There’s tears too.
Kimble, 48, was last seen in Taipa, east of Kaitaia, on March 18 in the company of fellow Tribesmen Rawden Yates.
Yates went on the run but was later arrested on outstanding matters.
Five months after Kimble’s disappearance, police on Thursday announced they had launched a murder inquiry and are seeking information from the public.
The news is bittersweet for Moore’s extended family, who have spent months combing Northland looking for their brother.
It was during their search that they got news that their brother Gary Moore had died too.
Gary Moore’s body was found by his partner at his Otara home on July 31.
The 57-year-old’s colleague Teina Taunga, 29, has been charged with his murder and bailed without plea to reappear in the High Court in September.
Gary’s death shattered the family, but at least they have a body to bury, they say.
Gary, who was also close to Kimble, died not knowing what happened to his brother.
Moore’s sisters fear they will waiting for information too.
Despite Kimble’s gang connections they say he was a role model to young men, and a caring son and brother.
The former butcher was the kind of man who’d buy roses from roadside stalls to give to each of his sisters, they say.
He moved to Northland years ago and was on a waiting list for a triple bypass when he vanished.
‘‘He was our everything,’’ die Marama Moore says.
‘‘He looked after us, he protected us. If there was anything we needed he’d offer to help us.’’
The family have mixed feelings about the police investigation, which they say wasn’t quick enough.
Although they say they have been treated well by Northland detectives, news of the up-scaling of the inquiry never reached them and they read about the murder investigation in the news.
‘‘He was a gang member, but he was our eldest brother and we just want to know if it was because he was a gang member, is that why things haven’t happened so fast? Or is it because it’s a big investigation? We don’t know,’’ Marama says.
‘‘It is good news (about the inquiry) but it was always a homicide to us,’’ she says.
The family is asking Northland residents to check their boundaries for any sightings of Kimble, and to pass any information to the police.
‘‘If you know something, it’s easy to write it on a piece of paper and send it in,’’ sister Nadia McFall says.
‘‘Make a discrete phone we can bury our brother.’’
Police declined to answer questions about the case.
Anybody with information should contact Kaitaia Police Station on 09 408 6500. call, so any