Mt Victoria
July 12th, 2012 at 7:00 am by David FarrarStuff reports:
Police have named a Wellington woman whose body was found on Mt Victoria but say it could take six weeks to determine how she died.
She was Sofia Helen Athanassiou, of Newtown.
The 39-year-old was found by a group of joggers about 11am on Monday off a running track near Alexandra Park, above Wellington Girls’ East College.
By coincidence I was walking with a friend on the same area of Mt Vic the previous (Sunday) morning. And there was a (in hindsight) slightly surreal conversation as at one point the track splits and we went down the path which was very bushy and surrounded by trees. My walking companion said “Are you taking me down this way so you can …”. I interrupted and said “No I only dispose of bodies in swamps, not forests”. She exclaimed back “I was going to say have sex with me, not kill me. Why are you thinking of killing me”. My response was “I’m not, why are you thinking of having sex with me”. We both laughed and carried on.
So it was rather weird to then read barely 24 hours later someone had been found dead in close to the same location.
He said an autopsy completed late yesterday was inconclusive and police were awaiting the results of further laboratory tests which may help explain how or why Athanassiou died.
Those tests could take up to six weeks.
“While it will ultimately be for the Coroner to determine the cause of death, we are still treating Sofia’s death as ‘unexplained’ and a key focus of the police investigation is establishing how or why she died.”
Twelve investigators continued to work on the case.
Hopefully it was natural causes, not homicide. A tragedy for her family and friends either way, but worse if foul play is involved.
Related posts:
- Mt Victoria Loop Walk
- Drug driving tests are coming
- Victoria Park
- Neuropsychological testing and ACC
July 12th, 2012 at 7:31 am
Why, you swordsman DPF! Giggity giggity..
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 8:43 am
Must be all that work at the gym.
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 8:51 am
I’m hazy on the details now, but I recall that during the 1960′s a young woman was found strangled on the slopes of Mt. Victoria – above Majoribanks Street. The ligature when removed from her neck, was apparently only a few inches in diameter, so it was a very violent strangulation. Can’t remember the outcome, whether anyone was found for the killing.
The photo released by the Police yesterday of the victim looks like a Police mug shot so I wonder if she was known to them?
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 9:12 am
May be needing Greg Kings no. sooner than you thought David…..?
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 9:29 am
Indeed The Scorned; I suspect Mr King will be getting a call from DPF from the Wellington Central Police Station at any moment; he’s all but confessed!
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Given what I saw of the picture released yesterday, and her home location, I wonder if she was a patient of the local DHB. Quite a few patients live in that area, and many have the same look. Bloody tragic
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 9:37 am
I’m reminded of Bill Bailey at the “We are Most Amused” Royal Command Comedy Performance, where he said that he doesn’t trust joggers because they’re always “Finding” the bodies.
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 9:39 am
Chris2
Vote:I believe there was an unsolved murder of that description. I’ll look for the details.
July 12th, 2012 at 9:45 am
Mystery of Marie West
A curious and baffling mystery was the case of Marie Emily West, who disappeared from her home at 13 McIntyre Avenue, Wellington, on 7 July 1947. Her body was found on the scrub-covered slopes of Mt. Victoria three months later. She was a young woman in her teens, and the question was then, as it is today, how did she die, and how was her body conveyed to where it was found and concealed. The complexities of the affair may be measured from the fact that officially it has never been conclusively determined whether it was a matter of murder or suicide, but all the indications point to suicide. The police investigations were so exhaustive that the file of the case in the Headquarters Office in Wellington stands about 30 in. high. Abundant evidence was disclosed to support the theory of suicide, while on the other hand the official opinion was that there was not “one jot or tittle” of testimony to suggest murder. The suicide conclusion was based on the considered opinions of two noted pathologists. But if suicide it was, how did the body get to Mt. Victoria? That was one of the perplexing problems. A Mr X came very much into the calculations of both police and public, but the police were finally satisfied that there was not an iota of evidence to connect him with the disappearance of the girl.
From the Encyclopedia of NZ
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 10:35 am
Thanks mikenmild, I think that was the case – don’t know where I got the ligature idea from.
I grew up in Mt Victoria and attended Wellington College and walked through that part of the Town Belt during the 1970′s twice a day to get to and from school. There were often “hobo’s” and other types living rough on the slopes of Mt. Vic and once I remember walking in knee-high grass and tripping over an unseen sleeping “hobo”. My little adolescent lungs carried my legs home in record time that day!
It’s surprising how many people sleep rough. A vagrant’s body was found in the Auckland Domain in the late 1990′s and Police treated her death as suspicious. It was known that she often slept in the Domain so they did a sweep of the area to interview others who slept there. It transpired that an average of 30 people slept rough in the Auckland Domain each night. Seems an extraordinarily high figure.
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 11:41 am
Ahh, the torture of being in the friendzone. They lead you on and tempt you but you never get any pussy.
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
>Why are you thinking of killing me”. My response was “I’m not, why are you thinking of having sex with me”.
Why do you think these two things are mutually exclusive?
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
I gather some ‘zones’ in the Town Belt are well know for various unsavoury behaviours. I also understand a fair number of homeless find shelter along the gardens areas flanking the urban motorway, of all places.
Vote:July 12th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
DPF
Vote:take it from a guy who has missed many female signals in the past………..
…….DING DING DING DING DING DING DING
July 12th, 2012 at 9:15 pm
No-one in this Quarter is safe until we find… – who killed Ernie?
Vote:http://sfwu.org.nz/news.asp?pageID=2145822798&RefID=2141737637
July 12th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
The only possible answer when a young lady asks if you are going to have sex with her is …… Yes. Anything else is clearly missing an opportunity.
Vote: