Ten years on, a daughter still waits

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Ten years ago, a little girl waited in Te Puke for her mother to come home for her fourth birthday. Shannel Yorke is still waiting.

The fate of Judith Yorke, who disappeared from a party on October 21, 1992, is as much a mystery as it ever was.

That eagerly awaited birthday celebration, a week after the 25-year-old solo mother vanished, never took place.

And a year later, Judy Yorke's parents Willie and Jane and two younger sisters Tira and Mina - who now have children of their own - did not have the heart for a fifth birthday party when Shannel started school.

Now completing her first year at Te Puke High School, the shy, pretty teenager was not putting too much store on turning 14 yesterday either.

Nothing special was arranged - although her mates were planning a party for her next weekend, she said.

The family's focus is elsewhere. Yesterday Shannel's 5-year-old cousin, Malachai, was to go into Green Lane Hospital in Auckland for major surgery.

But the radiographers' strike meant a last-minute cancellation and they are waiting anxiously for the operation - the child's fourth - to be rescheduled.

Meanwhile, the man who headed the Judy Yorke murder investigation, Detective Inspector Alan Collin, vows he will never give up trying to find her body.

Now based at Henderson, he says: "The family deserve to put Judy to rest properly."

Shannel's early memories of her mother have dimmed but, like her grandparents, aunts and brother Joseph (17), she clings to a wish that one day they will know what happened.

Police and the closeknit family have long been convinced that Judy Yorke is dead but, without a body or any firm clues, they are stymied.

"We just have to hope and pray we will find her one day," says her mother Jane, whose grief remains private.

She and her husband are a reserved couple who have carried on stoically doing their best for their two younger daughters and nine grandchildren.

Shannel Yorke has no words to express what it's like losing a parent in such circumstances. She simply gets on with life.

Judy Yorke lived with her small daughter just around the corner from her parents, who were raising her son, Joseph.

She was there on October 20, 1992, to wish sister Mina a happy 20th birthday, then left Shannel for the night while she went partying.

The last reported sighting of her was early next morning at a packing shed on a Matapihi orchard just south of Mt Maunganui.

In black pants and top, she had arrived at the party with a group of people in her car, a 1979 white Honda Accord.

The vehicle was driven back to Te Puke by one of her companions the next day. Later, Ms Yorke's mud-covered black shoes, one on either side of a shelter belt, were found on the 3.25ha orchard, now a housing estate.

With no obvious crime to explain her disappearance, a police inquiry did not start for two weeks.

Certainly, Judy's parents were worried. Usually in daily contact, she had not picked up Shannel after her night out and there was no response to knocks on her door, although her car was parked outside. Neighbours noticed a van there the day after the party and the family assumed Judy had gone off with friends. When she missed her daughter's birthday, they called the police.

A homicide investigation drew a blank but detectives still follow up tip-offs that come in periodically.

They are convinced the key to the mystery lies with the 30 partygoers that night. Alcohol, drugs and a reluctance by some to co-operate have made the task difficult.

Mr Collin is sure more than one person knows what happened to Judy Yorke and the veteran policeman is determined to find out. "It is a long time to have that hanging over her Mum and Dad and it is unfair to her children."

Mr Collin would welcome any information, even if it is anonymous.

"Someone might want to tell the truth. "To me, it is more important that we get her back as opposed to locking someone up for the crime."