By Alex Bourn
Mona Blades - it's a name familiar to many New Zealanders, even those who weren't born in 1975.
That's when the 18-year-old vanished while hitchhiking from Hamilton to Hastings.
In the decades since, her disappearance – and her murder – has intrigued the nation at various times.
And for a brief spell this morning, that interest was reawakened as police excavated a house in the Bay Of Plenty town of Kawerau.
The house once belonged to Derrick Hinton. He was the traffic officer in Kawerau when Ms Blades went missing in 1975.
Workmen spent the morning cutting up concrete and removed the floor of the downstairs laundry. For retired police sergeant Tony Moller it was an anxious moment – would his suspicions be confirmed.?
"Specialised scanning equipment was used last year, and that led to today's excavation," says Mr Moller. "There were two scans in the area of the laundry."
Nothing of interest was found.
The suspect, Mr Hinton, died three years ago. He was well-known in Kawerau.
"He didn't have a very great reputation," says Mr Moller.
Ms Blades was hitchhiking on Queen's Birthday weekend 1975 and was last seen on Matea Rd near the Napier-Taupo Highway in the back seat of an orange Datsun stationwagon. Mr Hinton owned a similar vehicle.
Mr Hinton was questioned at the Kawerau police station about his orange Datsun in relation to the case. He simply responded by saying, "If you think I did it, prove it." And that's where inquiries into Mr Hinton ended, until today.
This afternoon, 3 News spoke to one of his daughters about the search at the family's former home. She said Mr Moller's got it all wrong.
"I'm not surprised that the police didn't find anything," says Pauline Barrett.
"I didn't expect them to find anything. I have never had anything to believe that my family was implicated in the murder."
Ms Barrett says photos of the house 10 days before Blades' went missing show the wash house already constructed, with the concrete floor in place.
"The chances of my father having dug the floor up, buried a body and relayed the floor in the time available to him is nonexistent in my opinion."
Mr Hinton is not the first suspect. Over the years there have been five others - investigations into them came to nothing.
3 News