Eight years after Northlander Lee Sheppard vanished while working in London, his spirit has finally been put to rest with a moving memorial service.
About 150 people packed the Matakohe War Memorial Hall on Saturday to celebrate Lee's life, share memories and say goodbye to the 26-year-old who left behind his
wife Juliet, pregnant with their son Jaden when their husband and father disappeared.
The memorial culminated in a short service at a cross put up in his memory across the road from the hall.
Family, close friends and Auckland-based private investigator Ron McQuilter, who worked with London police to re-examine Lee's disappearance, were among the attendees.
A coroner's hearing in London in February found that Mr Sheppard died due to asphyxiation in an industrial accident at the European Metal Recycling Plant (EMR) on January 31, 2003 - a week after discovering his wife was pregnant. His body has never been found. Juliet, who recently remarried, sent the crowd into fits of laughter while giving a brief but quirky rundown of their life together. They met during their youth group days in Paparoa and Matakohe.
"I had liked him for a few months but it was hard to know with Lee if he felt the same way about me because he was nice to me but he was also nice to all the girls," she said.
She said Lee took her to watch him play squash with his mate Scott during their first date on June 1, 1996.
"We got engaged 13 months later with the ever-famous proposal at Rainbows End where he dressed up in a big dog suit and proposed," she recalled.
They married in April 1998 and at the end of March 2002, left for their big OE to the United Kingdom, via Disneyland in Los Angeles.
"It was great for me because watching Lee in Disneyland was like watching a kid in a lolly shop," she said.
Being pregnant and then having Jaden gave her a reason to be strong and to keep going.
Mr McQuilter said the case should have been solved within 24 hours of Mr Lee's disappearance.
London police, he said, were reviewing false information and assumptions.
Lee's father, Ken Sheppard, said the memorial service had put total closure to their agony which spanned eight years, two months and a week.
"We'll move on now. At some stage, we'll thank everyone for all their support ... it's been phenomenal," he said.
