Progress In Lisa Blakie Inquiry

Police have seized a vehicle in connection with the murder of Lisa Blakie and want public help in tracing its movements.

The 1984 Mark 4 Cortina was seized by Police recently and it is now under examination.

Inquiry head, Detective Inspector Rob Pope, says that the driver has been spoken to and police are closely assessing accounts of his movements.

“We are confident that this is the car that Lisa hitched a ride in but we cannot elaborate further.”

Detective Inspector Pope says that now the exact vehicle is known, the inquiry team is seeking more sightings around the times Lisa hitched the ride and when her body was discovered.

“The car is quite distinctive. It had a noisy exhaust, has grey primer on the roof, and high backed seats. It is a creamy/yellow colour.”

Mr Pope says that the Cortina travelled towards Christchurch on Wednesday 2 February, then did a U turn on the main road near the Shell Yaldhurst garage. This was about 12.30 noon. The driver then offered Lisa Blakie a ride and she got into the car.

The car travelled down the Old West Coast Road, returning to SH 73 at the Waddington turnoff. At around 1pm, it stopped at the Springfield garage where it is known Lisa purchased a lighter.

The last confirmed movement of the Cortina was at the Kowai No 2 bridge lay-by.

“We’re particularly interested in any sightings of the car on Wednesday 2 February, including at Shell Yaldhurst, along the route of the Old West Coast Road to the Waddington turn off, at the Springfield garage, the Kowai No 2 bridge lay-by, and particularly in and around the township of Darfield.

We are also interested in sightings of the Cortina between Darfield and Christchurch from Wednesday 2 February to Saturday 5 February. We know it travelled regularly between Darfield and town,” says Mr Pope.

Mr Pope says that despite it now being nearly 8 weeks since Lisa disappeared as she tried to hitch a ride to the west coast, the inquiry is making `significant progress’.

Police will be concentrating heavily on making inquiries around the Darfield/ Sheffield/ Springfield areas in the next few weeks.

“I stress that there is much more inquiry work to be completed in relation to this investigation and it would be dangerous to assume that we have established the identity of the offender or offenders responsible for Lisa’s murder. We are continuing to interview a large number of people to piece together what happened to Lisa over those critical three or four days.”

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