Mystery of missing tramper deepens
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| Wednesday, 25th July 2012 | Written by Josh Gale |
The father of missing American tramper Edward Reynolds has spoken out about his belief vital evidence in his son’s disappearance has been disregarded.
In June, Wilderness investigated missing tramper cases in New Zealand and looked closely at the case of 39-year-old Edward Reynolds who was last seen in Nelson Lake’s National Park in 2009.
Reynolds was walking the Te Araroa Trail, but on the advice of other trampers decided to detour from the trail at East Matakitaki Hut by crossing Three Tarn Pass to join the St James Walkway.
The only trace of Reynolds found after his disappearance is a footprint, a tent peg and a strapless watch. It is the strapless Casio watch, found on the St James Walkway around 30km tramp from his last known location at East Matakitaki Hut, that caused John Reynolds, Ed’s father, to contact Wilderness after reading the article.
Reynolds is convinced the watch, found in November 2009 on the track to Cannibal Gorge Hut on the St James Walkway, is his sons. When police showed the watch to Reynold’s wife, she was adamant it was the same watch worn by her son. She also said she had witnessed her son cut its straps off.
However, coroner Carla na Nagara in her inquest report rejected this: “This particular type of watch was produced in units of many millions, so it is not a distinctive or unique watch,” she stated.
John Reynolds felt “compelled to counter her position”.
“Ed’s watch was unique in that he had cut off the watch straps to save weight,” Reynolds said. “A key point is that he cut off the straps as opposed to simply removing the pins and the straps.”
Reynolds contacted trampers all over the world to find out how common it is to remove watch straps. He has been unable to find anyone in New Zealand or Europe who has done this and found only two people in the US who did, but they removed the pins so they could reattach the straps later.
“A couple of people said they had heard about the practice, but they didn’t know of anyone who had actually done it,” Reynolds said. “In three months of trying, I have been unable to locate anyone who cut off their watch straps.”
And although millions of units of this watch were made, Reynolds believes due to the low number of trampers in the world compared to total population, the probability that another tramper had a watch like the one found is unlikely.
“It seems to me to be a very remote possibility, practically nil, that another tramper had a watch like this with the straps cut off, and happened to drop it on the St James Walkway in the area that Ed had planned to walk,” Reynolds said. “We’re convinced that it is Ed’s watch.”
If it’s assumed it is his son’s watch, Reynolds said the location it was found in raised many questions such as what happened to his son once he got to the St James Walkway, or, if someone else dropped the watch, how did it come into their possession.
“To me, it only deepens the mystery,” he said.
In June, Wilderness investigated missing tramper cases in New Zealand and looked closely at the case of 39-year-old Edward Reynolds who was last seen in Nelson Lake’s National Park in 2009.
Reynolds was walking the Te Araroa Trail, but on the advice of other trampers decided to detour from the trail at East Matakitaki Hut by crossing Three Tarn Pass to join the St James Walkway.
The only trace of Reynolds found after his disappearance is a footprint, a tent peg and a strapless watch. It is the strapless Casio watch, found on the St James Walkway around 30km tramp from his last known location at East Matakitaki Hut, that caused John Reynolds, Ed’s father, to contact Wilderness after reading the article.
Reynolds is convinced the watch, found in November 2009 on the track to Cannibal Gorge Hut on the St James Walkway, is his sons. When police showed the watch to Reynold’s wife, she was adamant it was the same watch worn by her son. She also said she had witnessed her son cut its straps off.
However, coroner Carla na Nagara in her inquest report rejected this: “This particular type of watch was produced in units of many millions, so it is not a distinctive or unique watch,” she stated.
John Reynolds felt “compelled to counter her position”.
“Ed’s watch was unique in that he had cut off the watch straps to save weight,” Reynolds said. “A key point is that he cut off the straps as opposed to simply removing the pins and the straps.”
Reynolds contacted trampers all over the world to find out how common it is to remove watch straps. He has been unable to find anyone in New Zealand or Europe who has done this and found only two people in the US who did, but they removed the pins so they could reattach the straps later.
“A couple of people said they had heard about the practice, but they didn’t know of anyone who had actually done it,” Reynolds said. “In three months of trying, I have been unable to locate anyone who cut off their watch straps.”
And although millions of units of this watch were made, Reynolds believes due to the low number of trampers in the world compared to total population, the probability that another tramper had a watch like the one found is unlikely.
“It seems to me to be a very remote possibility, practically nil, that another tramper had a watch like this with the straps cut off, and happened to drop it on the St James Walkway in the area that Ed had planned to walk,” Reynolds said. “We’re convinced that it is Ed’s watch.”
If it’s assumed it is his son’s watch, Reynolds said the location it was found in raised many questions such as what happened to his son once he got to the St James Walkway, or, if someone else dropped the watch, how did it come into their possession.
“To me, it only deepens the mystery,” he said.
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