Porirua human remains: Patricia Burt finally laid to rest with husband 36 years after disappearing

A woman whose remains lay undiscovered in the bush for 36 years after she disappeared from a Porirua psychiatric hospital has finally been laid to rest with her husband.

Patricia Burt, 68, disappeared on Easter weekend 1988. She had been a patient at Porirua Hospital at the time.

Her daughter, Hilary Martin, earlier told the Herald that Burt had struggled with mental health issues her entire life and had been taken to Porirua Hospital many times, where she received electroshock therapy.

Her brother reported Burt missing, but did not have any luck with police.

Patricia Theresa Burt was a beautiful piano player, daughter Hilary Martin said.

“[The officer] seemed invested but as soon as he said she went missing from Porirua Hospital he slammed his pen down on the desk and said ‘we don’t look for missing persons from Porirua Hospital’,” Martin earlier said.

For years, her family had no clue as to where she’d gone or what happened to her, until a chance discovery by a man searching in a rugged, isolated section of Whitireia Park for nesting seabirds.

“Finding mum’s remains was a miracle,” Martin said. “We can only thank the finder of mum’s remains.”

The man discovered Burt’s skeleton on a steep section of the park in dense bush at the end of January this year.

Police initially identified Burt by items found with her at the scene, including a medical bracelet and a denture case. An initial DNA test came back inconclusive, but the second DNA test confirmed a match with Burt’s son.

The coroner has now officially identified the remains as Burt’s too, and is expected to release findings into her death at a later stage.

The family had a small ceremony for Burt in the 90s, but she was now able to be properly laid to rest, decades later, with her husband in Lower Hutt.

Patricia Burt has been laid to rest with her husband at the Taitā Soldiers Cemetery.

“Mum was cremated on July 12, interred with dad last Friday, July 19, at the Taitā Soldiers Cemetery,” she said.

“I feel comfortable now, knowing mum is at peace. This is a big relief to me and my family.”

Martin and her husband visited the site where Burt’s skeleton was found earlier this year. She described the area as a “God-forsaken place”.

“My husband and I feel very blessed, although it was a traumatic experience, to have gone to the site with the police as we will be the only ones who have done so.

“My family and I feel that there are so many unanswered questions, such as how did mum get to that impossible site, was there foul play, and are people perhaps now deceased who know more?”

Martin initially believed her mother had died by suicide, having previously told her family if she had to go back to Porirua Hospital she would disappear and nobody would ever find her. After visiting the site, she questioned how Burt could have reached the area on her own, in slippers and with osteoporosis.

“The site was far too difficult for anybody to get there. Someone would have to be an Olympian or very fit person to be able to climb the rugged hill we climbed,” she said.

Patricia Burt's remains were found on this steep slope under dense undergrowth, which has since been cleared so her skeleton could be removed.

The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Senior Sergeant Hamish Blackburn, earlier told the Herald police had uncovered no evidence of foul play or suspicious activity.

“I said to Hilary ‘we are never going to fully understand or have the answers as to how [she] came to be there’,” he said.

There were “a number of possibilities” as to what may have happened to Burt, but the most logical was that she had made her way to the park and taken her own life.

Patricia Burt's remains were found near the centre of the section of bush in this picture. Image / Google Earth

“I guess with her history of mental illness and the previous comments around suicide and ‘if I go to the hospital again I will never be found’, that perhaps that was her intention. I guess we will never fully understand the reasons why,” he said.

“How she came to be up on the hill we don’t know. There’s nothing that we’ve uncovered in this investigation that would lead us to believe there was anything suspicious.”

Martin said they now awaited the coroner’s findings, though expected it would be “inconclusive”.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.