The Big Read: The mystery death and a pink dressing gown

When an Auckland man threw himself out of his fiance's moving car, she drove home, had a shower and got into her pink dressing gown before returning to the scene.

By that time, he had been rushed to hospital and police were setting up a cordon on Seaview Rd, in Glenfield.

Maria*, in her 30s, drove up to the police tape and found out he had died.

"The defendant stated she was shocked by her passenger leaving the vehicle after a brief argument and was not aware of the seriousness of his injuries," officers recorded.

They breathalysed the woman, found she was over the limit. She was charged with drink-driving and failing to stop and ascertain injury after an accident.

The man she was due to marry died from his head injuries that night on December 20, 2014.

To this day, the only explanation Steven's* family has ever received was what she told police, and what friends who saw them earlier said.

The couple attended a work Christmas party before they moved on to a friend's house.

Steven wanted to spend the night there because they had both been drinking but Maria insisted they drove home because of a flat inspection the following day.

They had a "massive argument" according to friends, which saw them eventually leave with her behind the wheel despite her intoxicated state.

In the car, there was an argument.

He jumped.

She drove.

"She never said anything," the victim's mother told the Herald from her home overseas. "That's not good enough for me.

"That's the most devastating thing actually. If she had explained I would have put my arms around her . . . She was very close to our family."

Maria was interviewed in her pink dressing gown immediately after the incident by the officer in charge of the case, Detective Scott Sherer.

She told him Steven left the car abruptly and she wanted to give him time to cool off and walk home after their argument.

It was only when he did not return later that she realised something may be wrong, she said.

In April, Maria appeared before North Shore District Court where Judge Pippa Sinclair granted her permanent name suppression.

As a result, neither the victim nor his friends and family can be named.