Vegetables left on doorstep as friends lay dead inside flat

A bag of vegetables greeted detectives at the front door of murdered pensioner Ted Ferguson's home last Sunday.

As the bodies of the 73-year-old and his companion Margaret Waldin, 76, lay inside, a cabbage, parsnips, carrots and a cucumber lay at the back doorstep.

They were for a boil-up which Mr Ferguson had been wanting to cook all week. Police have not revealed when they believe the elderly couple were stabbed to death in Mr Ferguson's one-bedroom unit, but their good friend Ray Butler had dropped the vegetables off to them about 9.45am on Saturday.

The couple were last seen alive at the Manchester Tavern on Friday night.

Mr Butler had knocked on his mate's front door but got no answer. The curtains were drawn.

He thought his friend was asleep or had gone to Mrs Waldin's house.

He found out on Sunday afternoon they were both dead and had most likely been lying stabbed in the unit when he knocked on the door.

Mr Butler and his long-time companion, Elsie Te Oka, had been drinking with Mr Ferguson and Mrs Waldin on Friday afternoon.

"He [Mr Ferguson] said I'm going to have a boil-up, so I better get across to the market to buy some veges. I said to him don't worry about it, I'll give them to you, I've got plenty," Mrs Te Oka said.

She sent Mr Butler round with the vegetables on Saturday morning.

The vegetables were left to sit on the front porch while the two pensioners' friends met at the pub.

A resident in the Rangimarie flats in Bowen St, where Mr Ferguson lived, called police on Sunday morning concerned they had not seen him. The bodies were found by a constable who climbed in through the front window.

Yesterday, police scoured roof tops and streets in Feilding looking for the murder weapon, described as possibly a knife or a sharp object, while a police dive squad worked in a creek behind the flats.

Inspector Dave White said police were making good progress in the investigation.

He said security footage from the tavern and other places was proving helpful.

"Some of the security footage will help us and has been in terms of helping us identify people that have been there and people in the hotel."

He said police were still searching bank records, and Eftpos transactions made by the pair.

Friends said Mr Ferguson had drawn a large sum of money out of his bank last week, possibly preparing to take a holiday.

He had been given a few weeks off from a job wood-chopping while his boss Tim Donovan flew to Australia.

Mr White asked people who were in Feilding and out on the Friday night to come forward. They can call 0800 OP RAIN or 0800 677-246.