Victim's neighbour loses pedigree pets

Scott Guy with wife Kylee. Photo / Supplied

It's the $6400 question - would anyone commit murder to steal a litter of chocolate Labrador puppies?

Scott Guy's eight pure bred puppies, valued at $800 each, appear the unlikeliest of motives to what has become one of the most perplexing murder-mysteries.

But while theories of vendettas, drug wars and skeletons in the closet have been discussed ad nauseam, finding the three pups that were taken remains a major focus of the police investigation.

And this week one of Guy's neighbours on Aorangi Rd near Feilding told the Herald on Sunday that they had also had expensive pets go missing in suspicious circumstances.

Penny Robertson, who lives a few hundred metres from where Guy, 31, was shot dead in his driveway, had two pedigree Siamese cats go missing about a year ago.

"When it happened we didn't really think anything of it," the 22-year-old mother of one said.

"They went missing one week after each other at the same time on the exact same day. I had posters up everywhere and went into the SPCA."

The disappearance only took on a more sinister significance after Guy's murder.

"Someone must have known that I had them here," she said.

Robertson said she was aware of other pets going missing along the semi-rural road.

"It's still pretty scary. Everyone is on edge. Eight pups worth $800 each could be a motive if someone was desperate enough. It's the only thing that makes sense."

Robertson told police about the missing pets a week before they went public about the missing puppies.

Most people in Feilding would have known that the puppies were for sale as there were posters up around town.

Police believe someone from the town holds information that could unlock the case.

A 37-strong investigation team has canvassed homes and businesses in the town several times - but have so far failed to identify a strong suspect.

Detective Inspector Sue Schwalger, in charge of the case, has refused all requests for an interview. In a statement, she said police were trying to work out how the pups had been disposed of.

"They may well have been sold or just given away, but equally they may have been used as a currency to barter for other stolen goods or drugs.

"Regardless of what has happened to them, locating the puppies remains important to the investigation."

According to SPCA chief executive Bob Kerridge, there is a thriving black market in stolen pets in New Zealand.

He said it usually involved the stealing to order of pedigree puppies.

"The nefarious people involved make it known they will have a certain type of dog.

"Most are stolen in the dark of night, or by stealth when the owner isn't around."

He said it was difficult to know whether it had ties to more serious criminal enterprises.

A retired police superintendent told the Herald on Sunday a "peer review" would usually be held one month into an investigation - where an outside team of detectives move in to go over all the evidence.

He said they would examine Guy's personal relationships and financial dealings for anything that was out of harmony with his reputation.

"The puppies is one possibility. But it seems more likely to me that there is some personal thing involved in the background, that somebody was aware of his movements."

The theory that Guy was the victim of a vendetta has also gained more weight after it emerged that his property was burgled in the middle of 2008 - the third time it was targeted in less than two years.

Personal goods were stolen just six months before the old homestead was razed to the ground in an unsolved arson.

In a third home invasion, windows were smashed and walls graffitied in 2009 on the home that the Guys had built in its place.

Guy's neighbour Penny Robertson said that the home's seclusion made it popular with thieves.

She added: "Scott's house is the only one on the road that doesn't look on to any other properties. No one can see directly on to it. It was like they knew they could go there and get away with it."

Police have tried to play down rumours doing the rounds in pubs and online.

Schwalger said they had spoken to Guy's friends and associates in Australia and there was no information that he had made any enemies during his year there in 2003.

Likewise, they haven't found any evidence of links to drugs or gangs.

One person who refuses to enter into speculative theories is Guy's father Bryan.

Bryan Guy said he deliberately hadn't asked for updates from Schwalger unless it was something significant.

"I just don't want to lie to anybody who asks about it.

"I don't really want to know too much of the detail. It's not very constructive."

Police still want to hear from anyone who saw the drivers of two vehicles seen travelling along Aorangi Rd towards Campbell Rd between 4.30am and 5am on July 8.

And anyone with information about the shotgun used to kill Guy.

* Witnesses are asked to call the investigation team on 0800 808 585 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Another family's grief

Even among the hundreds of condolence messages they received in the aftermath of Scott Guy's murder, this one stood out.

"To the Guy family, words cannot express how you must be feeling, please know that you are in our thoughts.

"Treasure your memories of Scott and he will always be with you, in spirit if not body. Mark and Mary-Anne O'Donnell."

Just three weeks after the message was posted on an online tribute site, the O'Donnells were mourning the loss of their son Tim - the Feilding lieutenant who died on duty in Afghanistan.

The families had many connections. The O'Donnells' older son Andrew worked as a labourer on the Guys' Aorangi Rd property. The Cessna 152 plane that crashed killing instructor Jessica Neeson and her student Patricia Smallman fell into a paddock leased by the Guys.

Bryan Guy said: "You sometimes think what's going to happen next?"