UNSOLVED MURDER
Long wait for justice for ‘Loie’
Why was Lois Tolley killed?
A year ago tonight, four men smashed down the front door of her Upper Hutt unit. She was home alone, and minutes later she was dead, after a brutal attack in which she was shot ‘‘execution style’’ and stabbed.
The offenders were seen on CCTV footage fleeing the scene on Ward St, Wallaceville; one of them yelling in apparent distress ‘‘what have we done?’’.
Police said one motive to the targeted, standover-style killing could be retribution for a perceived wrong.
In saying that, police are keeping an open mind as to what possessed the people behind Tolley’s death to take such extreme and unnecessary action.
There have been multiple pleas for information to help in the investigation and police now say they are ‘‘absolutely confident’’ arrests will be made.
Head of the investigation, dubbed Operation Archer, Detective Senior Sergeant Glenn Barnett, said the hunt for the 30-yearold’s killer was narrowing.
The picture was becoming clearer as people who knew about the murder, some of whom had actively resisted aiding the investigation, began opening up to police, he said.
The 12-strong investigation team had worked through more than 130 people of interest and whittled the group down to about 12 people either directly involved in the murder, planning the attack or aiding the killers after the murder.
The list included men and women, some of whom were known to Tolley, Barnett said.
Despite a year having gone by and there being no arrests, his team was ‘‘absolutely confident arrests will be made’’ and was ‘‘still fully committed to solving this murder’’.
As for a motive, Barnett said while police remain open-minded, the standover-style, targeted attack may have been triggered in retribution for a perceived wrong.
‘‘They’ve gone there with a loaded firearm, they’ve gone there with another weapon - which we think may be a knife of some sort they’ve smashed their way in through the front door.
‘‘Lois has been at home, on her own, unprotected and then there’s just been a brutal killing.’’
Barnett said gang associates both men and women - and patched members of ‘‘a number of gangs’’ had been interviewed but there was no single gang that stood out as having been involved in the slaying.
Police had to be careful in how they advanced the case to ensure first-hand and circumstantial evidence matched with suspects and held up in court.
‘‘We need to make sure when we move on the people we’ve got all our evidence in a line - and we know there’s still people out there who haven’t come forward, who know information either before, immediately after or even some months later ...
‘‘However, we still need more of the people who have spoken with the offenders to contact to us.’’
Barnett said police had come across no evidence that stacked up rumours swirling around the case, which include that someone was under Tolley’s bed when she was killed and that one of the prime suspects had since killed himself.
There was also no evidence she was involved in organised crime or prostitution, he said.
Meanwhile, Tolley’s mother Cathrine MacDonald spoke of her grief yesterday in a police-issued statement.
‘‘Words cannot describe how we all feel, it just feels like yesterday these cowards took her from us, the pain does not get any easier.
‘‘We miss Lois so much – this has devastated our family and her friends. They stole her future from her and all of us,’’ MacDonald said. ❚ Long wait for justice for ‘Loie’, A7
"We still need more of the people who have spoken with the offenders to contact to us." Detective Senior Sergeant Glenn Barnett