Police investigate new leads in 35-year-old Auckland murder

Tracey Ann Patient's family have never recovered from the loss. Photo / Supplied

Waitakere police are investigating new leads in the cold-case murder of Tracey Ann Patient, who was killed in West Auckland 35 years ago today.

Tracey was found with pantyhose tightened around her throat in the bush of the Waitakere Ranges on January 29, 1976, but her murder remains unsolved.

Detective Inspector Bruce Scott, Waitemata district manager for criminal investigations, said the file remained open and continued to be an active inquiry.

Continuing interest by the Herald and other media organisations last year triggered several new tips from the public on the case. While some names suggested as potential killers were later ruled out as suspects, Mr Scott confirmed numerous lines of inquiry had been followed up over the years. "An evaluation team is assessing other pieces of information that came to our notice last year.

"One of our investigators has had an association with this file for more than a decade. He remains confident this murder can still be solved.

"Police continue to be in regular contact with the family [of Tracey] and they are kept updated on any developments."

Mr Scott urged anyone who knew anything about the murder to come forward. "It's never too late and this case will never be closed. No matter how trivial it seems, you never know how that piece of information fits in the puzzle.

"This case is going to be solved by the public," he said.

He mentioned an Auckland man who this month handed himself in to Australian police nearly 24 years after killing his girlfriend Nella Poli, 19, in Sydney. He declined to comment on issues related to forensics or DNA.

The Patient family returned to Britain after Tracey's murder. Her sister Debbie Sheppard told the Weekend Herald the family had never recovered.

She had been told there was a promising line of inquiry for police, but hoped the 35-year anniversary of her sister's murder would jog people's memories. "I want people to remember Tracey. I want them to remember that a young 13-year-old girl had her life brutally squeezed out of her body and was then dumped in the Waitakeres like a piece of rubbish. I want them to remember that the person that murdered Tracey was never brought to justice."

Ms Sheppard said she wanted Tracey's murderer to know that she would never give up hope he would be caught.

"Tracey was a young girl with her whole life ahead of her; you robbed her of her life. I hope that your guilt is eating away at your insides like a cancer."

Tracey Ann Patient was last seen at 9.30pm on January 29, 1976, on Great North Rd outside the old Henderson police station. The 13-year-old said goodbye to her girlfriend before crossing the road to ask an elderly couple the time.

Appearing upset that she was late, Tracey ran towards her home 1.6km away. She never made it. A man walking his dog found her body in the Waitakere Ranges, strangled with a pantyhose tourniquet tightened with a stick.

Two years after the murder, police found Tracey's signet ring in a wastepaper basket at an Avondale shopping mall after an anonymous phone tip. The informant quoted the number 126040, but police were unable to trace the caller.

Can you help?
Anyone with information about Tracey's death is urged to call Waitakere CIB (09) 839-0600. Alternatively, people can call Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111.