Kyla Rogers probably kiilled shortly after her abduction, police say
May 17, 2011
The bodies of a 5 year old girl and her father were last night found in a car near the town of Casino.
Found dead … Kayla Rogers, 5. Source: The Courier-Mail
Antony Way, formerly of Nelson, New Zealand, but was living on the Gold Coast. He has been identified by New Zealand media as the partner of Tania Simpson. Source: Facebook Source: Supplied
POLICE have defended the length of time they took to put out a child abduction alert for Gold Coast girl Kyla Rogers, saying they believe she was killed soon after she was abducted by her father.
A nationwide alert was cancelled just before 10.30pm after the bodies of Paul Anthony Rogers and his daughter Kyla, who celebrated her fifth birthday on Sunday, were found in a car near Casino, northern NSW, shortly after 9.30pm.
It appeared Rogers had gassed himself and his daughter Kyla.
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AAP reported today that NSW police are also investigating whether the father ingested some form of poison beforehand.
Police said early reports show Kyla and Rogers died from carbon monoxide gassing.
The local area commander at Richmond in northern NSW, Superintendent Greg Martin, would not say whether Rogers left a note before dying in the car with his daughter.
“It’s probably improper that I flush out all of the details of the investigation through the media when it’s the coroner that should be finding all this out first,” Supt Martin told AAP.
But he said Kayla would most certainly have died first.
He would not rule out reports that Rogers had poisoned himself by some additional means. “That’s obviously one of our lines of inquiry,” he said.
“Because of the physical size of the child, we believe she succumbed to the gas poisoning whereas there’s some evidence at the scene that the adult male hadn’t quite as quickly succumbed.”
Rogers was being sought by police after his estranged partner Tania Simpson and a man understood to be her new partner were found dead at her Gold Coast apartment.
Kyla’s mother Tania Simpson, 31, and a 33-year-old man described by police as a family friend, were found stabbed to death in Ms Simpson’s Robina apartment on Monday morning.
Police have not yet officially named the man found dead with Simpson, citing the need to contact next of kin in New Zealand. But New Zealand media report he is Antony Way, formerly of Nelson.
Their bodies were discovered by Kyla’s maternal grandfather, who had arrived to take her to school. Acting regional crime co-ordinator Inspector Tim Trezise said police were ‘gutted’ at her death.
“It’s just a waste, all these people dying, but particularly an innocent child like this one,” he told a media conference at Gold Coast police headquarters today.
The child abduction alert for Kyla was not issued until about 3.15pm Monday but Insp Trezise said he did not believe it could have been issued any earlier.
He said police could not issue the alert until they had firm information and were also using mobile phone tracking to try to locate Mr Rogers and Kyla alive.
However, he said it was ‘completely possible’ they were dead before the bodies were found at Robina yesterday morning.
Insp Trezise said evidence found at the unit indicated Kyla may have slept through the double murder.
He revealed Ms Simpson and Mr Rogers had been planning to marry but broke up after an eight-year relationship.
Ms Simpson moved to the Gold Coast recently to start a new life.
It was not known whether she was in a relationship with the man who was found dead.
Police are preparing a report for the coroner.
Kyla’s 20-month old brother is now an orphan, saved only because he spent Sunday night with his grandparents.
The discovery of the bodies under Piora Bridge followed a manhunt sparked when Ms Simpson’s father found his daughter and a man dead in a Robina unit at 8am yesterday.
Police began searching for Rogers after a tipoff that he was heading across the border with Kyla in the car they were found dead in.
Ms Simpson and the children had only recently moved into the Robina apartment and she was working as the building manager.
Property records showed the estranged couple owned a house at Ormeau, on the Gold Coast, and ran a caravan park in Inverell last year. Homicide detectives and forensics officers remained on the scenes at Robina and Casino last night.
“With great sadness we advise that the NSW Police Force have located a vehicle with the deceased bodies of a five-year-old girl and a man in a car just outside of Casino,” Queensland Police said late last night.
Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett confirmed Paul Rogers and Tania Simpson had been in a relationship but were estranged..
“The investigation is still ongoing but the man and the woman had been estranged for some time and had been living apart,’’ he said.
Ms Simpson was described by one neighbour as a single mum who had only recently taken over as the resident manager of the apartments on leafy Arbour Ave.
“It’s very disturbing. We heard some yelling last night but didn’t think too much more of it til my daughter (who lives on the same street) rang this morning telling me to look outside,” said neighbour Shirley Darrington.
“I got a shock when I saw all the police. It’s very sad that it’s come to this.”
Arbour Avenue resident Stephen, whose mother lived just two-doors down from Tanya Simpson and her children, said his mother heard screaming on Sunday night.
“She heard the screaming and was going to call the police, but it only lasted a minute or two and then it was over so quickly she thought everything was okay,’’ he said.
“It was a woman screaming.”
He said the locks on the door up to Ms Simpson’s apartment had been broken the week before, but whether it was related or not to her disappearance, he didn’t know.
“There was a guy out here pacing up and down and looking up to her unit a couple of days ago,” he said.
“I don’t know who he was but he was looking up and pacing back and forth.”
Police said there appeared to have been a struggle in the unit. The Gold Coast Bulletin has also reported there was a trail of blood leading from the apartment.
<a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/kyla-killed-039soon-after-abduction039/story-e6freuy9-1226057080071tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/kyla-killed-039soon-after-abduction039/story-e6freuy9-1226057080071Tue, 17 May 2011 03:48:16 GMT 00:00″>Kyla Rogers probably kiilled shortly after her abduction, police say
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