By Krissy Moreau
Police have confirmed the murdered woman whose body was found lying next to a dead sex offender in South Canterbury was a hitchhiker from the Czech Republic.
They say that Dagmar, or Dasha, Pytlickova was picked up by Jason Frandi in the Waitaki valley on Saturday.
Their bodies were found in a pine forest near Waimate on Sunday.
As police searched for any sign of the missing backpacker in the home of Waimate local Jason Frandi, back at the station they were confirming the worst – she was the victim of a random, roadside abduction.
“He has encountered her somewhere around that Kurow area, to Omarama, and has then driven her up into this area,” says Detective Inspector Greg Williams. “He has probably walked her up to where she is, which is where the assault and murder has taken place.”
Thirty-one-year-old Czech Republic national Dagmar Pytlickova, known as Dasha, had been hitching a ride to Timaru after spending time fruit-picking at a vineyard in Cromwell.
“Miss Pytlickova's family in the Czech Republic have been informed and they are quite rightly devastated and shocked by what has taken place and are struggling to come to terms with what has actually occurred,” says Mr Williams.
Barry Finch had known Frandi for years. They worked together at Whitestone Roading.
“Jason was a very private person,” says the friend of the deceased. “He wouldn't discuss what was going on in his life. I think it's actually quite sad things have got to where they are without him reaching out for help.”
Locals say Jason Frandi was polite, quiet, kept to himself and spent every weekend working on cars.
But police have confirmed Frandi was charged in 2000 with abducting a 19-year-old woman from Oamaru. He served three-and-a-half years in prison, and at the time told police he intended to take her into a forestry block and rape her.
Police say they probably aren't looking for anyone else in relation to the bodies that were found in the remote forestry block near Waimate.
The small town is in shock.
“It’s very unsettling,” says Waimate local Alison Gillespie. “We have lots of elderly in town that are all worried. A lot of them live on their own.”
“I wouldn't have picked it,” says local Donna Archbold. “I don't think I would have thought by looking at him that he would have ever been involved in something like this. It’s a bit of a shock.”
Police also confirmed they had found Frandi’s silver BMW about 3km from the two bodies.
3 News