By TONY WALL
The ghost of Kirsty Bentley continues to haunt the sleepy Mid-Canterbury town of Ashburton, two years after the 15-year-old was abducted and murdered while out walking her dog on a stifling hot New Year's Eve afternoon.
Renewed publicity on the unsolved case - including reports that Kirsty's father, Sid, has changed his version of events about where he was on the afternoon she disappeared - has turned the farming town of 15,000 into a hornet's nest of gossip and innuendo.
Everyone seems to have a theory on who killed Kirsty, and why.
Caught in the middle are Kirsty's parents, Jill and Sid, who separated this year.
Mr Bentley, an engineer, still lives in the family home in Hampstead. He is at present on holiday overseas.
Mrs Bentley, a part-time cleaner, has moved to a house in the country and is writing a book about Kirsty, whose body was found in dense scrub in the Rakaia Gorge, about 40km from Ashburton, more than two weeks after she disappeared.
Mrs Bentley had just finished gardening - one of her favourite pastimes - when the Herald called yesterday.
She was in an upbeat mood, and laughed and talked of trying to ignore the gossip in the district. She wants to get on with her life.
"It does make it difficult. Being an active case for two years, it's never away from you. But I think personally I've been able to find some direction in life, albeit falteringly sometimes, but it's there and I just need to follow it."
Last week's Sunday Star-Times article, reporting that Mr Bentley had changed his story after a bump on the head, was hard to deal with.
Mrs Bentley sees her husband every day because she cleans the factory he works in.
"We've tried to be decent about the whole thing. It's [amicable] as far as it can be.
"We just try to be aware of what the other one is going through. There's never any loss of love for Kirsty. You never lose that whether you're separated or not."
Mrs Bentley preferred not to comment on the reasons for their separation.
"There have been so many different versions of why we separated - and they're all different - that I'm beginning to find it amusing. I've just decided I'm not even going to add to the speculation. I'll just let everybody make a total fool of themselves."
The rumour-mill in Ashburton was "very healthy," as it had been from the start, she said.
"Being public property wears a bit thin sometimes - you really can't sneeze without it being somebody's business. I try to ignore it, and if anything try to find some humour.
"There are so many different stories that go around, and none of them tally. I just think people are amusing themselves with unfounded gossip and I'm certainly not going to sink to that level by even going into it."
Mrs Bentley does not believe the police have any idea who killed her daughter. Asked if she thought a stranger killed Kirsty, she said: "I don't really want to answer that one; it could be taken any way."
She had heard that some of Kirsty's friends might visit her on New Year's Eve.
"That would be lovely if they do, but if they don't I think I'll just work in the garden - it's the best place to be."
Mr Bentley's lawyer, Tony Garrett, said yesterday that he had not spoken to his client for some time.
"At present, he's quite some distance away from New Zealand. I haven't had any requests from the police to speak to him again.
"As I understand it, that interview [in October, when he changed his version of events] was really for the purposes of clarification rather than any sort of new leads."
Police said this week that it was "too dangerous" to speculate about the significance of information.
Inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Williams said yesterday: "In a whodunit murder we look at all aspects. We're looking at everything and keeping our minds open to all possibilities."
He believed the case could still be solved. "We're committed to solving the murder - I've got some 15 years left in the police and if it takes 15 years we'll solve it.
"A murder like this is never closed. I know of murders that have been solved after 10 years when the person's finally had enough, or found God or something and admitted it. Time's on our side now."
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