
Community mourns murdered US student Kyle Whorrall
More than 60 people gathered at a memorial and fundraising event today for American PhD student Kyle Whorrall, who was fatally attacked at an Auckland bus stop last month.
Whorrall, 33, was attacked at a bus stop on St Johns Road in Meadowbank on 19 April, and died from his injuries in hospital.
Kyle Whorrall, 33, was killed at a bus stop on St Johns Rd in Meadowbank, Auckland. Photo: supplied
A 16-year-old youth has been charged with murder and aggravated robbery, and a 32 year-old woman has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.
Dozens of members of the community, local businesses, Whorrall's friends and his mother Carole Whorrall attended the event at a local restaurant, which was organised to celebrate the 'essence' of Whorrall and to provide support to his family.
Photo: RNZ/Lucy Xia
A letter penned by Whorrall's sister Heather was read out in a speech at the event.
Her letter said Whorrall was born and raised in California, and shortly after he learned to walk, he had started exploring the outdoors, and was always looking for bugs and turning stones.
When Whorrall was 13 years old, he went on a month-long trip to Australasia with his mother and two sisters, and visited Australia, New Zealand and Fiji for the first time. He was the youngest member of an entomology club, a student volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo and volunteered for Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots NGO.
Photo: RNZ/Lucy Xia
During his studies, he travelled to Peru for a few weeks to collect spiders, six of which were newly-discovered species.
Whorrall loved the flora and fauna of New Zealand, and at the time of his death was three months away from submitting his PhD thesis.
He was a passionate, intelligent and caring person, his sister said.
Meadow restaurant owner Gina Henry at the memorial for murdered US student Kyle Whorrall. Photo: RNZ/Lucy Xia
"He will always be a part of New Zealand."
The Meadow restaurant was decorated with many pictures and artwork of bugs made by children from local schools, in memory of Whorrall.
Gina Henry, who owns the restaurant and helped organise the event, said she wanted to do something for Whorrall's family in these hard times.
Photo: RNZ/Lucy Xia
"He was just a part of our community, he was a beautiful man, and he shouldn't go home the way he's going home tomorrow - he should be going home as a PhD student, graduating in a few months," she said.
Henry said she posted to Facebook to reach out to the community to brainstorm, and people thought a "silent auction" would be a great way to support the family with the costs of the funeral and their travels.
Henry said nearly 40 businesses had contributed gifts and vouchers to the fundraiser.
Photo: RNZ/Lucy Xia
"Everything from bottles of wine, to olive oil, to beauty vouchers, everybody's just really come to the party, and just wants to be part of something bigger, I think that's the whole reason why we're here is just we're something bigger, we're a community of people that just want to reach out," she said.
Deputy mayor Desley Simpson also attended the event and offered condolences to Whorrall's mother.
In a speech, Simpson said she wanted the family to leave New Zealand knowing that the community has reached out with love and support.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Police still searching for youths that fled remand home
File photo. Photo: RNZ Police are still searching for a trio of young people who a ran away from a youth home in Auckland earlier this month. Oranga Tamariki had been alerted by one of its contracted providers after the group left a community based remand home on 8 July. Two of the young people were on remand, while the other was under a care and protection custody order. Police have told RNZ they were still searching for the youths. They said they were working with Oranga Tamariki as part of their investigation. "For legal reasons we cannot release further information about these young people," police said. Oranga Tamariki have been approached for comment. They had previously described cases like this as concerning. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Police still searching for youths that fled Oranga Tamariki remand home
File photo. Photo: RNZ Police are still searching for a trio of young people who a ran away from a youth home in Auckland earlier this month. Oranga Tamariki had been alerted by one of its contracted providers after the group left a community based remand home on 8 July. Two of the young people were on remand, while the other was under a care and protection custody order. Police have told RNZ they were still searching for the youths. They said they were working with Oranga Tamariki as part of their investigation. "For legal reasons we cannot release further information about these young people," police said. Oranga Tamariki have been approached for comment. They had previously described cases like this as concerning. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Potentially deadly pipe bombs found by body near Auckland motorway
A police cordon is set up in a walkway near SH1 at Highbrook. Photo: RNZ / Bella Craig Devices found near a body beside Auckland's Southern Motorway were pipe bombs that could have killed people, police say. Police were alerted to the sudden death about 11.30am on Tuesday and it resulted in the motorway being closed for many hours . Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Hayward said an investigation into the man's "sudden death" was continuing and further specialist examination of two devices found near him had been completed. Do you know more? Email "From this examination, police can confirm both devices were in fact viable pipe bombs. "These devices would have been capable of causing death or serious injury to any individual in proximity." Hayward said these devices had now been safely removed and destroyed and there was no wider risk to the public. A post-mortem examination on the man was being completed on Wednesday. "Police also expect our scene examination to be completed this afternoon," Hayward said. "Given the scenes proximity to a major state highway, it was imperative that the area was made safe before proceeding." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.