Blades file open, waiting for clues

On May 31, 1975, a young woman hitch-hiking from Hamilton to Hastings got into an orange Datsun 120Y stationwagon on the Napier-Taupo road and disappeared without trace.

Thirty years later, the body of Mona Blades, 18, has never been found. Nor have her personal belongings.

The case remains open and police remain dedicated to solving it.

"We want to know where Mona is, what happened to her and who was responsible," Detective Inspector Garth Bryan of Rotorua said yesterday. "Someone knows that. We want to get closure for the family."

He said "considerable resources" had gone into the investigation over the past three decades.

"It is not nice to have a file that is unresolved. New Zealand police have a proud record of solving serious crime."

A truck driver saw Miss Blades getting into the Datsun and witnesses reported seeing a matching vehicle veering off the highway and stopping on rural Matea Rd, on the way to Napier.

One of three suspects investigated at the time has since died. An elderly New Zealand man and another now living in Sydney have remained "persons of interest" but new information is needed before they can be reinterviewed.

A fresh push on the baffling case was made in February and three Rotorua officers, including Mr Bryan, are still working through information from the public.

"So far we are no further along towards finding out where she is or who may have been responsible," he said.

The response to a special 0800 MONABLADES (0800-66-62-25) hotline was excellent and he had no doubt that tip-offs would continue to trickle in.

The case also came under the spotlight last year when investigators were told about what was thought to be a shallow grave bearing Miss Blades' name in a Huntly garage.

The name had been inscribed on concrete as a joke six years earlier and the former owner of the property apologised to her family.