Body found in search for missing woman
Man has been arrested for an assault and is in custody
I hope police can get some answers, because for me, this is constant. It’s like you are living it over and over every day and there’s no end to it. Mother of Bridget Simmonds
Police have charged a man after finding a body in the search for missing Northland woman Bridget Simmonds.
The man, 57, has been arrested for an assault and is in custody.
“We cannot rule out further charges being laid,” Detective Senior Sergeant John Clayton said.
News of the discovery of the body and arrest came after police said they were excavating a site at a rural property where they believed the 43-yearold mother of two was buried. She was last heard from over a year ago.
Police converged on a 20ha block of land on Wilson Rd, Parakao, 40km west of Whangarei on Wednesday after new information came to light which caused investigators to believe foul play was involved in Simmonds’ disappearance. About 20 staff were working at the scene yesterday. Police said the excavation process was complex and expected to take some time.
Included in the police contingent was a team of four divers who scoured a section of the Mangakahia River near the block of land, a cadaver dog, Environmental Science and research staff and specialist search teams.
Clayton said it was understood Simmonds travelled to the property by taxi. The information was recent.
He wouldn’t confirm where the property was or where the body was located on the property.
Asked if it was known when Simmonds died, he said he wouldn’t go into details about that.
It was hoped the body would be removed last night, Clayton said.
“We’ve also found other items of interest at the property, but I’m not going to go into detail.”
Clayton said there were still pieces of the puzzle missing and urged those who may have more information about the death to come forward and contact police.
“I’m adamant there’s other people out there that know what happened to Bridget, and we certainly want to hear from them.
“It’s been a long investigation . . . we’ve had a lot of information from the public. Some of the leads have been . . . very useful.”
The assault charge against the man is unrelated to the disappearance of
Simmonds, he said. Police also this week opened a dedicated phone line for people to call if they had information that might help with the case.
By late Thursday, police announced they had reached a “critical point” in their investigations but due to “operational reasons” would not reveal what that meant.
Simmonds, who was 42 at the time, was last seen at Countdown on February 23 last year and was reported missing on March 6 after all communication with her family stopped.
Simmonds’ mother, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told the Northern Advocate this week that her daughter’s disappearance was hard for all the family and it was like living a recurring nightmare.
“I’m hoping they find something . . . I don’t believe after all this time she is still alive, that’s my feeling,” she said.
“I hope police can get some answers, because for me, this is constant. It’s like you are living it over and over every day and there’s no end to it. It would be a relief to find her so this can come to an end and we can move forward.”
Clayton said Simmonds family was being, and would continue to be, supported.