On 26th June 1931, Phillis Symons was murdered by George Coats and her body placed by him in the fill from the construction of the Mt Victoria tunnel. Phillis was 17 years old. George was a 30 year old widower with four children in care, as he could not afford to take care of them. Phillis and George were expecting a child together.
Phillis was born in Napier and lived most of her short life in Wellington. The Symons family home was in Mortimer Terrace where she was one of six siblings. From March 1931, Phillis moved to lodgings with George in Abel Smith Street. They had met when she was making cups of tea for relief workers. To those acquainted with them, they appeared to be a happy couple and many assumed they were married. A letter later found in the lodgings was addressed to ‘Dearest Dad’ and sought her father’s consent to marry George.
Pink appeared to be Phillis’s favourite colour. She often wore a pink beaded necklace and pink slippers about the house.
When her body was found on 12th July 1931, she was wearing pink overalls.
Karori Cemetery: Plot: *Ch Eng 2/L/148
