1. TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 2. TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND THE CASES: VOLUME ONE SIRIUS RUST SIRIUS PUBLISHING TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 3. First published in 2019 Copyright © True Crime New Zealand Email: [email protected] Web: www.TrueCrimeNZ.com TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 4. CONTENTS Introduction by Jessica Rust 6. History of True Crime New Zealand 9. Case 1: Parker-Hulme Murder, 1957, Christchurch 17. - Part I: Events Leading up to Murder 18. - Part II: Events Subsequent to Murder 49. Case 2: The Missing Swedes, 1989, Thames 67. - Prologue: A Trip of a Lifetime 68. - Investigation: Following Leads 82. - Epilogue: The Next Twenty Years 103. Case 3: Schlaepfer Family Murders, 1992, Paerata 122. Case 4: Delcelia Witika, 1991, Mangere 136. Case 5: Maketū Wharetōtara, 1842, Russell 154. Case 6: Minnie Dean, 1895, Winton 171. Case 7: Walter James Bolton, 1957, Wanganui 191. Case 8: Graeme Burton, 1992, Lower Hutt 210. - Part I: Paul Anderson 211. - Part II: Karl Kuchenbecker 223. Case 9: Joe Kum Yung, 1905, Wellington 249. Case 10: Brent Garner, 1996, Ashhurst 268. TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 5. - Part I: Venus 270. - Part II: Mars 283. Case 11: The Crewe Murders, 1970, Pukekawa 294. - Prologue: Pukekawa 295. - Investigation: Looking for Evidence 310. - Epilogue: Nine Long Years 333. Case 12: The Rainbow Warrior, 1985, Auckland 356. - Prologue: Nuclear Proliferation 358. - Part I: Warriors of the Rainbow 365. - Part II: Operation Satanic 379. - Epilogue: Nuclear Free New Zealand 392. Aknowledgements 401. TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 6. Introduction I met my husband in 2012. I was a lonely, insecure young woman. I thought it was just another date, that it would turn out to be either just another uncomfortable night or just another rejection. I didn’t know that night how much my life would change, how much I would change. My husband is by far the most challenging, infuriating, exciting, intelligent, humorous, loving human being I have ever met. My life was so quiet and grey before he came in and splashed colour into in. Meeting him was like Dorothy stepping into Oz! My husband likes to say that we do the podcast together, a husband and wife team, but to be honest that is not quite true. I record the narration and that is really the extent of it, he is perhaps a bit too generous to say it is a team effort. Because it is all him. I have been amazed at how much hard work, passion and time he has put into this. He really cares deeply about what he does. He dreams that one day True Crime NZ becomes a source for anybody wanting to learn more about the history of New Zealand. Over the last few months he has given up his social life and almost all his free time in pursuit of this passion and I could not be more proud. When he came to me to say he wanted to do a podcast on crimes in New Zealand I thought, ‘well that will be a short series’. I am not exactly sure why but I just always thought TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 7. these types of things just don’t happen in New Zealand. But sadly they do. I realised, reading the scripts for each episode, how little I truly know about my own country. There are so many of these stories I had never even heard about. Heidi Paakkonen and Urban Hoglin mean so much to me now but a couple of months ago I had never even heard the names. I thought I knew all about the Rainbow Warrior and Arthur Allen Thomas but I really knew so little. I have learnt so much more throughout this series. Some people may question why someone would choose a subject like crime to focus a podcast on. Heck sometimes I even think, well why can’t we just tell nice stories? Stories about puppies and babies and kittens stealing milk off people’s doorstops. But the reality is life is more complex than that. My history teacher once said “we need to know the past to avoid repeating it”, and I truly believe that. It is so easy and nice to think that New Zealand isn’t a place where bad things happen but it just isn’t true. It is so easy to write people off as inhuman monsters but without understanding the human condition and what causes people to behave the way they do there is no way to truly reach them. This podcast hasn’t just given my husband meaning in his life it has helped him explore the meaning in all life. I have edited this book using a long dormant English degree (finally in use!) and I hope I have done an okay job. The reasoning for turning this podcast into a book is that we know podcasts are not for everyone. My father still doesn't quite understand it, I have tried explaining that it is like a radio show. My mother asked why the picture wasn’t moving, not realising she wasn’t watching a video. Also some people would prefer to TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 8. read than listen to my high pitched voice I am sure. We would love for this to reach as many people as it can so please feel free to share it with anyone you think may enjoy it. Thank you to everyone who has listened to the podcast or reads this book. You have no idea how much your time and your kind words mean to my husband and to me. Honey, I love you more than you will ever know. I am so proud of all you have done and all I know you will do. When we are blessed enough to finally start our family (and once our child is at least 18), I cannot wait to share this with them. I know they will be as proud of you as I am. I look forward to editing Volume II. Jessica TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 9. History of True Crime New Zealand On the 6th of April 2019, the New Jersey Devils played the last game of their season – beating the Florida Panthers in overtime. As I cheered for the win of my favourite team and watched the team disembark the ice, I realised how much free time I now had on my hands. Downtime and I did not get along too well – it was in these moments I was most vulnerable to bouts of depression. Distractions were always desirable in my last decade and a half dealing with ‘the blues’ -- alcohol, drugs, video games, pornography and most recently sport. None fulfilled the empty feeling I had inside. In my other ‘real’ job, one of the small freedoms I have is the ability to listen to my bluetooth speaker that I bought from my good friend for $30. I’ve been a podcast listener for many years -- the podcast Tell em Steve Dave being one of my favourites and getting me through some dark times. But after listening to the complete Coheed and Cambria discography about four times, and exhausting the back catalogue of all the podcasts I subscribed to on my app, I went on the hunt for new podcasts. One day I was browsing Reddit, in particular the r/Podcast subreddit. One of the ‘hot posts’ was one patron of the subreddit gushing about how fantastic the ‘Silk Road’ episodes of some show called ‘Casefile’ was. I checked it out. TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 10. I had no idea ‘true crime podcasts’ existed. Always having been a person interested in the macabre and morbid, obviously the concept interested me. What I wasn’t expecting -- how much I would learn; about history, about psychology, about law. I loved it, not for the gore but for storytelling. I went back through the back catalogue of Casefile episodes; starting at one. It took me a couple of weeks, maybe a month to get to episode 19 -- Snowtown. I was already somewhat familiar with this case as I had watched the Aussie film based on the murders. As I listened to the episode I found myself with a feeling of wanting to learn even more about the case and the people involved. I ended up reading a book, rewatching the movie and finding some documentaries on youtube about the ‘Bodies in Barrels’ murders. It was in this process of researching the ‘Snowtown Murders’ the seed for ‘True Crime New Zealand’ was planted. The seed would not sprout until I discovered another true crime podcast -- Canadian True Crime; hosted by Kristi Lee. I was listening to the introduction episode of her podcast when Kristi mentioned she was recording the podcast in her closet. “I have a closet” I thought. I came home from work that day and told my lovely wife Jessica, “I’m going to make my own true crime podcast about New Zealand crimes”. She was encouraging, but she is used to me starting things that never go anywhere. On the 23rd of May 2019, I began writing the first script for TCNZ -- Ben Smart and Olivia Hope. Anyone who is familiar with the podcast knows that never got made. I began researching the case and got intimidated by how much TRUE CRIME NEW ZEALAND 11. information I was presented with. I decided to choose something I thought would be simpler; simplicity was decided by how much information I could find on the internet by the way, the less info -- the easier my job would be of researching (that was the thinking).