Finding car-thief priority in teacher murder investigation [audio report]

The scene at Tokoroa's Strathmore School. Picture / Alan Gibson

Police hope Lois Dear's car will lead them to her killer.

Forensic scientists will today begin examining the 1994 Toyota Corolla found abandoned behind a church in Tokoroa.

Police believe whoever stole the car also murdered the 66-year-old teacher.

Ms Dear was publicly named after her body was removed from her Strathmore Primary School classroom and formally identified by family members.

The school will remain closed today as police search for clues.

Yesterday, it was the scene of an intense forensic examination, with specialist officers combing the classroom, grounds and a neighbouring walkway and property.

There were also emotional scenes as Ms Dear's body was removed from Room 4 while teaching staff, parents and pupils looked on from behind police cordons.

Her car was found by a security guard behind Tokoroa's Catholic church on the corner of State Highway 1 and Mossop Rd at 9pm on Sunday.

Detective Inspector Garth Bryan said police were anxious to hear of sightings of the vehicle on Sunday.

"We believe the person responsible for her death has also stolen her car."

He said the car had been seen at Strathmore Primary, which is about five minutes' drive from the church, at 8am, and was now being treated as a crime scene.

Mr Bryan, who spoke at a press conference with Ms Dear's brother, Harley Dear, condemned the teacher's killer.

"Any person who goes into a primary school and attacks a woman in her senior years like that is brutal."

It is still unclear how Ms Dear died, despite earlier reports that she suffered head injuries.

Mr Bryan said the cause of death and motive were unknown and police were keeping an open mind about how many people were involved.

A neighbour told the Herald he saw two young men dressed in hooded sweatshirts leaving the school at 8.05am, but Mr Bryan said police had spoken to dozens of people and had no concrete leads yet.

The neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he saw the Maori or Pacific Island youths aged about 16 or 17 leave through the entrance to the school and walk north down the road.

Yesterday, the road in front of the school entrance was lined with police cars.

A hearse took Ms Dear's body away at noon as a group of about 50 people, many crying, arrived at the school entrance to farewell her with flowers and songs.

Local kaumatua performed karakia (prayers) after the body was wheeled out of the classroom covered in a navy-coloured cloth.

Only one boy turned up for class, not knowing the school was closed.

He was led away by a teacher, sobbing.

Principal Murray Kendrick and staff spent the afternoon remembering Ms Dear and formulating a plan for reopening the school. This may not occur until Thursday.

He said the classroom where Ms Dear was killed was unlikely to be used again.

Teacher killed in the room she loved

Lois Dear loved teaching first-year schoolchildren.

She loved it so much that when she turned 66 last month and shouted her fellow teachers lunch, she told them she was not about to retire.

"Come on, Lois, you're 66," they said, "you should be having your feet up and enjoying retirement by now."

She replied: "No, the children keep me young."

She died on Sunday, attacked in her classroom at Tokoroa's Strathmore Primary School as she prepared for the start of the new term.

Just before she died, she had hung a colourful display of a gold bird, mussels and pipi in the school foyer.

It will become part of a memorial to her the school plans to establish.

Shocked fellow teachers yesterday recalled her dedication to the new entrants.

Principal Murray Kendrick said staff and students adored Ms Dear. He admired the way she used music in her class.

"There was a good mix of sitting-quiet-on-the-mat time and get-up-and-dance."

But she did not put up with nonsense. When children misbehaved she placed them beside a little sad face she had made to get them to think about what they were doing.

Mr Kendrick said Ms Dear could be strong-willed. She would not go along with a plan to split her class with another teacher this year.

"Lois wanted to keep her little darlings, so we had to alter our system."

Lois Dear had been a teacher since she left high school, and students and family were her priorities.

She had a son, a daughter and five grandchildren, but was single and lived alone, caring for her 95-year-old father.

She and two brothers grew up on the Hauraki plains. One brother, Harley Dear of Auckland, said she was a "neat person, best described as a servant", whose strength of heart was demonstrated by her dedication to their father.

"She really did a marvellous job of looking after him and taking him out and doing all the things we couldn't do, being a fair distance away," he said.

The last time he saw her was on her 66th birthday. He said the family were in shock.

Teacher Ngaire Taikato met her murdered colleague more than 20 years ago at Tokoroa Central Primary School and also worked with her at Strathmore.

"She was just absolutely loved and respected by all."

She described Ms Dear's teaching style as "old school - very strict, but at the same time very kind and very diligent".

Paula Anderson, whose 5-year-old son Phoenix was in Ms Dear's class, said she was great with children.

"My son started out not very clever and is coming along nicely now."

He had been heartbroken when she broke the news to him.

"The look on his face was, 'You're lying to me, Mum'. He loves her."

Anna Barrett, another Strathmore teacher, sometimes relieved in Ms Dear's class. "It's always been a very bright, happy, exciting place to go."

She said the children were used to a structured routine and would protest if she did something different. "They would say, 'Ms Dear didn't do it this way'."

Another teacher, Wendy Rusk, said: "She was always in the classroom - lunchtime, playtime, before school, after school, in the weekend."

Ms Dear's neighbours in Lochmaben Rd, where she had lived for a year, said she would often leave for school at 6am.

They described her as quiet but friendly.

Harley Dear said his sister had vague plans to retire on a family property in the country, but no one was ever sure when it was going to happen because she was a workaholic.

"But she wasn't a workaholic for work's sake," he added.

"She just loved the job, in particular she liked seeing the result with kids."

* Police hotline 0800 525 386