Can bloggers help solve a murder?

Investigate magazine has been passed a document originally provided to Police at the time of Kayo Matsuzawa's murder, but apparently not followed up at the time.

The man who pawned goods, including a 14  kt ring later identified by police as Kayo's... gave his details as they appear on this receipt: (click on picture for larger image)

Despite positively identifying the ring, police forgot to take away the original of the receipt which, as you can see, we have now posted a photo of.

So I'm throwing this one over to the blogosphere...the ring was pawned BEFORE Kayo's body was found.

Background details are these:

A bit more background might help.

I was operating a small antique shop in Strand Arcade, Auckland at the time. A scruffy little Eastern European man came in to sell me a cranberry glass vase, a ring and a brooch on 18 September 1998. I told him I wasn't interested and he said he had more at the hostel he was staying at. He wasn't dressed like a tourist, more like a seaman, and the items he had looked out of place. He told me he had more items at his home in Brisbane. I told him I needed I.D. from him and he produced an expired Australian passport #A690752 which had expired on 28.03.95. He explained this by saying he didn't carry his current passport on him when he was traveling around. He gave his name as Mikhail Keselman, of 31 Cornflour St, Mansfield, Brisbane, occupation Unemployed.

While he went off to the hostel, I phoned the Police to inform them of this suspicious chap, and suggested they might like to send someone to speak with him. The Police were only a few hundred yards away, and I spoke to the senior controller. He was totally unhelpful, and suggested I ask the seller where he got the items from. I vividly recall asking, "Isn't that your job?", at which he slammed the phone down in my ear.

I decided if the Police didn't care, neither did I, and I bought several (7) of the items offered.

I am obliged as a second hand dealer to keep jewellery for 1 month before reselling, and so the pieces were not put out for sale until late October 1998.

Several weeks later (maybe 2 months?) a female police officer called with a photo of a ring which she said was missing from the murdered Japanese tourist. I recognised it immediately as the one Item 5 on my receipt; a 14 carat gem set ring. I am not 100% certain now what the gem was, but think it was probably a citrine, or maybe topaz. I am a bit vague on this point after 9 years. Anyway, I was able to find the name and credit card details of the buyer (new owner) of this ring, which my records show was sold on 20.11.98.

The female police officer took these away and I was never approached by the police again.

The press release on the weekend, caused me to go and find the receipt (attached), at which point I realised that he had sold this while the girl was still missing. How he came by it I do not know, whether it was taken off the body, found discarded, or stolen from her room, are just some unanswered questions. What he was doing in Auckland and why he left in such unseemly haste are others.

Now it may well be that Keselman bought the items off somebody else, perhaps the real killer, but he seems to be the strongest lead available and I've heard nothing in the past nine years that explains it away.

The reason I suspect police cocked it up is because it is standard practice for all original relevant documents to be seized as potential court exhibits. The police seized the details of the person who purchased the pawned ring, but did not take away the details of the person who pawned it.

Is anyone out there motivated enough to try and locate Keselman to see if he can shed any light on where he got Kayo's ring from?

Police have tried to find him in the past, (and here also) but to no avail.

NZ HERALD, 24/10/00: "Kayo Matsuzawa was a young Japanese tourist whose naked, decaying corpse was found inside a fire-alarm cupboard in the Centrecourt building in Queen St on September 22, 1998 - 10 days after she was last seen alive. The lack of forensic evidence has frustrated detectives."

Comments

[Shout Above The Noise]

What a Keystone cockup.

[dad4justice]

Yet another blunder by cops !!

God help us in New Zealand .

[Shout Above The Noise]

With any luck, hopefully the cops will get a few new leads.

[John Boy]

Hindsight is wonderful. If they responded to evey crime possibility there would be no one doing traffic revenue. Then where would we be?

[dad4justice]

What about Kristy Bentley murder inquiry , how is that going Mr Williams ?

[Warrick]

Watched the program on the TV
the other night. If someone had electronic access to the buildings and knew how the system worked in order to delete the logs. And also someone who knew about the small room. Surely a Security
guard with police knowledge would be the main suspect ?
Surely they would of probed deeper into that area ?
or is that too simple.

[Kelly Bolton]

did the little scruffy russian man have a short, white beard, white hair swept back a little, glasses, a fisherman's polo neck white sweater, and a dark pea-jacket?

[Kelly Bolton]

Or did he mention anything about being a lecturer of politics, russian, or mathematics at Auck. Uni? Had he previously lived in or frequented Devonport, especially the Esplanade Hotel? Does anyone know this? This is important.

[Kelly Bolton]

Spoke English fluently but with a fairly strong accent? About 65-70 kg, not fat, and about 170cm in height? Smoked roll your own cigarettes, tobacco stains. despite his "seaman" attire appeared reasoanbly sophisticated and intelligent?

[Louis Vuitton bag]

So cute! So shocking and great! It's so lucky for me to find your blog! It's great to hear from you and see what you've sent up to.I love this post with lots of information! All that here catch the of fashion, which are lovely designs! Thank you for sharing!
by LV Handbags

[kelly bolton]

Who is this person "Louis Vuitton Bag" making fun here?
His handle and speech are an obvious reference to Japanese women. Is this funny, to mock an innocent victim of an horrific crime? Who are you?

[James Sloan]

For what its worth a quick search of Google Earth reveals that that address is completely ficticous, there is no such street in Brisbane. So the question is, why use a fake address, and what must in turn be a fake name, if you dont know the items your selling are stolen? He must be linked ot this crime some way, but police say the mystery Russian was eliminated from the inquiry. Strange. For what its worth im leaning towards the idea that maybe more than one person was involved in this crime.

[John Smith]

But the description of the Russian given here by the antique dealer is different to the description from the hostel manager. He said he was quite big.

The manager of the backpackers hostel, Ken Ho, said police had spent a lot of time investigating one of his guests, a middle-aged Russian who was staying at the hostel last September.

He considered the man, who was "big and strong," to be "dodgy" because he hung around the hostel all day.

[John Smith]

It is quite clearly two different people ho may or may not have known each other. Yes?

[john smith]

Why does the antique dealer say the man was little and scruffy, while the hostel manager calls him "big and strong"?
the "little scruffy eastern european man, dressed like a seaman," sounds a lot like the man described by an earlier poster. Perhaps they were friends who were both staying at the hostel?

[john smith]

Read up! a previous poster, wrote:

did the little scruffy russian man have a short, white beard, white hair swept back a little, glasses, a fisherman's polo neck white sweater, and a dark pea-jacket?
Or did he mention anything about being a lecturer of politics, russian, or mathematics at Auck. Uni? Had he previously lived in or frequented Devonport, especially the Esplanade Hotel? Does anyone know this? This is important.
Spoke English fluently but with a fairly strong accent? About 65-70 kg, not fat, and about 170cm in height? Smoked roll your own cigarettes, tobacco stains. despite his "seaman" attire appeared reasoanbly sophisticated and intelligent?

Interesting. How many scruffy little eastern european men in auckland, dressed like seamen, were in downtown auckland when kayo matsuzawa was murdered? where did he get kayo's ring? did someone get rid of it by giving it to him in a panic? I know a man who fits this description very well. it is clear that the big strong dodgy russian and the little scruffy seaman russian are two different people. isn"t it?

[Pete Whalley]

reply to james sloan :_
your search must have been quick and not terribly deep - you are correct there is no Cornflour street but there is a Cornflower street in Mansfield Brisbane - i'm sure this has already been spotted and investigated further..

[Dave Jones]

just seem the Investigator cover this case, the programme says the killer could of relied on public transport or been a walker. if thats the case how did the killer move the body to the alarm room if she was not killed elsewhere, he must of had access to a car/van.

[Dave Jones]

just seem the Investigator cover this case, the programme says the killer could of relied on public transport or been a walker. if thats the case how did the killer move the body to the alarm room if she was killed elsewhere, he must of had access to a car/van.

[James Sloan]

Unless he killed her somewhere in the complex. He must have had a lookout though you would think. I've often wondered how he gained her confidence. Perhaps he was a security guard, maybe he got his lookout mate to harrass her and then he stepped in to "save her". Then he charms her and says he will walk her back to her Hostel after he locks up and finishes his shift. Maybe thats how he got her to go to the BNZ tower complex. Ive often thought that he could of even been a bouncer at the QF tavern downstairs outside the BNZ tower who maybe got her trust a similar way, but you would have thought someone would have seen something. But the body wasnt found till sometime later so its possible people could have forgotten. Someone out there must know something. It haunts me every time I walk past that building.