New Zealand: British backpacker Grace Millane's disappearance treated as murder

New Zealand police are treating the disappearance of Britsh backpacker Grace Millane, as a murder. They located a man who was seen with her and released some photos of some of her personal items. The Guardian reported that these included "a watch, necklace and her passport."

New Zealand police think Millane is dead

The police in New Zealand believe that the evidence they collected indicates very strongly that the young tourist is dead.

An alleged suspect is a 26-year-old man. They also identified a vehicle which they believe is part of the evidence. The BBC noted that the man and Grace "'went to a number of places before going to the CityLife Hotel," where she was last seen."

The family, devastated by the news, said that Millane shared photos and social posts with them ever since she started her trip. Then, suddenly they stopped. Her dad, David Millane spoke at a news conference in Auckland. His daughter, 22-years-old, graduated from University before undertaking a year-long trip around the world. She already spent six weeks on a tour of South America.

She was in the company of a group tour at that time.

Grace Millane alone in Auckland

When Grace arrived in New Zealand she was alone and booked to stay at the Base Backpackers. She was due to depart from the backpackers on December 8th. However, she went missing a week ago. Apparently, the man and Grace went to the CityLife Hotel, where CCTV footage assisted the police with enquiries. So far, the body of Grace has not been located, but police believe she is no longer alive. They hope to recover her remains so the family can find some closure.

New Zealand is well known as a beautiful tourist destination. The country is clean, the population is relatively small, and the communities are generally helpful, kind and decent people.

Nevertheless, on occasion tourists have been reported as missing and even murdered. In fact, violent crime is on the increase, and in 2009, the NZ Herald reported that the New Zealand Institute said "only Mexico, Finland, Hungar, and the US had higher “assault mortality” rates in the OECD countries."

In August, NZ Herald reported that a Japanese tourist was found dead 20 years ago. The assailant used her bank card at the time of her suspected murder. That cold case ended up with a suspect in custody. Other tourists disappeared, never to be seen again. In some cases, they have never been found and while murder was not ruled out, no suspects were ever found.