Carole Whorrall travelled to New Zealand from the United States and spoke to the Herald this week about how she wanted her son to be remembered.

“Kyle was a brilliant, gentle and deeply caring person whose love for the natural world shaped his life and inspired those around him,” she said in a written statement.

“He was passionate about his work and admired greatly by his colleagues and friends, of which he had many.

“He was dedicated to making a difference and about to embark on a brilliant career. He was deeply loved and admired by his family.”

Kyle Whorrall, originally from Los Angeles, was in the last stages of a PhD in entomology at the University of Auckland and was based at Landcare Research in St Johns.

The MC of today’s event said while drawing a butterfly for the memorial one child asked: “Does Kyle have wings now?”

The answer, she said, was of course.

Messages from local politicians, the community and Whorrall’s sister Heather have been shared with the gathering.

Local body chair Scott Milne said there is a sense of shame in the community but he is proud about how the community has come together to honour Whorrall.

“I’m trying to find the silver linings in all of this awful situation.”

The Ōrākei Local Board has arranged for another memorial service on Monday at St Johns Bush, where a pōhutukawa will be planted to honour Whorrall.

His mother will fly home to California on Monday evening and said the family planned to hold his funeral there.

“There have been a number of memorials here in New Zealand by friends, colleagues and those who never knew him but wished to celebrate his life,” she said.

“We are deeply moved by the kindness and concern of everyone here in New Zealand.”

A family friend has set up a crowdfunding page to help the family cover the costs of their travel, the funeral and other expenses. So far, US$53,000 ($89,000) has been raised towards a goal of US$60,000.

“The circumstances of Kyle’s death have introduced unexpected and uniquely challenging obstacles to his family, who must now travel thousands of miles to deal with this horrible tragedy,” the organiser of the fundraiser said.

Last week, the family arranged for professional photos to be taken of Whorrall‘s bedroom in his St Johns flat as a memento.

Photographs showed a room crammed with plant life on every surface, a sprawling collection of stuffed animals, US National Park posters and natural artefacts. Display cases of insects filled one corner of the room.

Police investigation

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with Whorrall’s murder and aggravated robbery and a 32-year-old woman has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said there had been no further arrests or charges in the homicide investigation but search warrants had been executed in the past few days. Police were following “positive lines of inquiry”, he told the Herald.

Police had also found the occupants of a silver Mitsubishi Grandis they were seeking last week, saying that they could hold information about why Whorrall was killed.

Carole Whorrall said the police had been “very diligent” in their investigation and “extraordinarily kind” to the family.

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