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Home / Northern Advocate

Daddy's no longer lost - mystery of Lee Sheppard solved

By Kristin Edge
Reporter·Northern Advocate·
17 Dec, 2008 05:00 AM4 mins to read

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Family ties. And good old fashioned policing.
In the end, this is what solved the nearly six-year mystery of Lee Sheppard's disappearance in London in 2003. It is believed Lee, from Pahi, 20km southwest of Maungaturoto, died in a workplace accident involving a giant crusher. Although the news is sad, his
family is delighted they finally know what happened to their beloved son, husband and father.
Private investigator Ron McQuilter, inspired by the Sheppard family's dedication to solving the mystery, headed for London last month where he met Detective Sergeant Andy Goodwin, a London policeman who had retained Lee Sheppard's missing person's file.
Both men had felt a responsibility to Lee's parents, to solve the case. Together they pulled apart the original police investigation. Mr McQuilter, a director of private investigation company Paragon, obtained closed circuit television footage of the night of Lee's disappearance. He used an Auckland company's hi-tech equipment to view the night footage. There was no evidence Lee had left the site.
Workers from the factory at the time were re-interviewed and gave different versions of events from statements taken in 2003.
In particular a Ukrainian man, who had been reluctant to speak in 2003 because of his immigration status, revealed he thought Lee had never left and may have had an accident involving a 40-tonne recycling machine.
Lee never clocked out the night he disappeared - something he had never done before. No one had seen him leave and his bag with bus and train passes, a balaclava and house keys were still at work. Despite police stating a forensic examination of the site had been carried out it was discovered only a visual inspection had been done.
Mr McQuilter also gathered evidence that an hour after Lee went missing the de-fragmenting machine - a machine that could crush 10 fridges at a time - malfunctioned, something that had never happened before.
"There is compelling circumstantial evidence that Lee never left that night and he could possibly have had a work place accident. The Coroner will eventually have the final say."
Mr McQuilter believes if the correct agencies had been called in at the start the tragedy would have been solved within 48 hours. Returning to Northland to tell the Sheppard family what he had found was a scary moment for the seasoned sleuth.
"I wanted to tell the family in person.
"It was not nice but the reality is it was the right thing to do. Once I got involved and saw how the family had suffered I felt compelled to work the mystery out."
* Sad news, but such a relief for family
Five-year-old Jaden Lee Sheppard has known his whole life that his Dad was "lost".
Now he can say "Dad's in heaven," after the family has learned that Lee Sheppard, the Northland man who disappeared in London in 2003, is believed to have died in a workplace accident.
"Your mind did think of the worst," mum Rose said.
Dad Ken agreed, saying although the family have had nearly six years to cope with Lee's disappearance, they don't have to wonder what happened.
"He was actually just working, doing what he was wanting to and paid to do. That's a relief.
"We've handled it, cause we've been given an inner strength. I don't know where it comes from, but it's there. You've just got to carry on."
Despite carrying on with life, Lee was always on their minds. But now, despite knowing Lee is dead, at least they know and can end years of speculation.
However, Lee's wife Juliet is still taking it in.
When private detective Ron McQuilter broke the news to the Sheppards in person on Sunday, Juliet didn't know quite what to think.
"When Ron came and told us it was like a dream," she said.
"I've often had dreams of the day we got the news, and it was a bit surreal."
Juliet's main motivation for having the private investigator continue the search was her son, Jaden Lee.
Juliet had broken the news of her pregnancy to Lee the morning before he disappeared.
"Jaden's good, he's really happy. He now knows where his dad is."
Until the visit from Mr McQuilter, all Jaden knew was that his Dad was "lost," a term used by all the family to describe Lee's whereabouts.
"I just told him `The man who has been trying to find Daddy has found him, and your dad died. So he's in Heaven now'."

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