Name: Mona Blades
Date of Birth:(18)
Date of Disappearance: 31 /05/1975
Ethnicity: european
Location:
Height: 170cm
Build:
Distinguishing features: Blue eyes, honey – brown hair
Circumstances: Mona had been living with her sister and brother-in-law in Hamilton. On 31 May 1975 ,Mona decided to hitchhike to her family home in Hastings, for Queens birthday weekend.was last seen on the road between Napier and Taupo in an orange Datsun 120Y station wagon .A truck driver saw blades getting into the Datsun, and witnesses reported seeing a matching vehicle veering off the highway and stopping on rural Matea Rd.
The man seen with Mona and the Datsun was described as a bald, fat, middle-aged man, possibly wearing glasses.
No one knew that Mona was missing until 3 days later. A search effort was launched using search dogs, helicopters and heat seeking devices.
Two weeks after her disappearance, the police announced that they were searching for the Orange Datsun.
A $10 000 reward for info leading to a conviction was posted.
There have been about five suspects in the case.[2] Auckland police investigated John Freeman who had rented an orange Datsun the weekend that Blades disappeared. On the day two weeks later that police announced they were searching for an orange Datsun, Freeman shot and wounded a student at St Cuthbert’s College in Auckland before killing himself.[3]
An elderly New Zealand man and Charlie Hughes, a Hamilton man now living in Australia, have remained “persons of interest” for police. Hughes has gone public in newspapers and on television about his frustrations at being on the suspects list and has denied he had anything to do with the alleged murder.[2][3]
In 2004, there was a glimmer of hope when police came across a shallow grave bearing Blades’ name in a Huntly garage. The name had been inscribed on concrete as a joke six years earlier and the former owner of the property apologised to her family.[citation needed]
In 2005, Blades’ brother, Tony Blades, told the Daily Post his family had not talked to the media during the previous 30 years about their feelings because it was too hard on them, especially their mother, who was then in her 80s.[4] Her father has since died not knowing his daughter’s whereabouts.
In January 2012 police dug up the concrete laundry floor of a house in Kawerau looking for her body, but found nothing of interest.[5]
This case remains one of the oldest unsolved mysteries in New Zealand history.
Her body and belongings have never been found, and no one has been charged in connection with her disappearance and presumed murder.
Allegiances and relationships change overtime. Someone may see a story about Mona and they may realize that it is time to get information off their chests.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Blades_case
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/mona-blades-cold-case-excavation-finds-nothing-2012012612
New Zealand Mysteries 