Tracey Patient murder clues lead down blind alley

By SCOTT INGLIS

It was 9.30 pm and Tracey Patient was late.

The 13-year-old said goodbye to her girlfriend outside the Henderson police station, before crossing the road to ask an elderly couple the time.

She appeared upset at being late and ran off towards home 1.6km away, her fair hair bouncing off her slim shoulders.

She never made it - her lifeless body was found the next morning, 16km away in the Waitakere Ranges.

It was 25 years ago today that Tracey Ann Patient was strangled with pantyhose tightened around her throat with a stick.

Her killer has never been caught, but the hunt for him - or her - has been marked by a series of bizarre twists and anonymous tips that ultimately led frustrated detectives nowhere.

The story begins in 1973, when John and June Patient migrated from London. He was a roofer and the family - including Tracey and her elder and younger sisters Debbie and Denise - settled in Henderson's Dellwood Ave.

They came to start a new life, following a family friend who had done the same.

Tracey was considered a friendly, fun-loving person who got on well with all the neighbourhood children.

After his daughter failed to come home that Thursday night, Mr Patient frantically searched the streets, reporting her missing to police just after midnight.

The next morning, a man walking his dog found her body about 10m from the road on a lonely section of Scenic Drive.

The pantyhose used to strangle Tracey were not hers, but there was no evidence of sexual attack.

A signet ring she was wearing had been removed.

Tracey was described as a sensible girl unlikely to accept a lift from a stranger. A leading theory was that she had been abducted.

Thirty detectives, led by Detective Inspector Bruce Scott, followed a number of leads, quickly looking for a cream or white 1967 Ford Cortina seen slowly following a female jogger near the police station on Great North Rd just before Tracey arrived there.

They also sought a man said to have pestered three girls three nights earlier. A description and identikit picture were published and the man was found, but he was later cleared.

Other significant clues still puzzling police include:

Six weeks after the murder, an anonymous woman phoned Youthline saying she had seen a blond girl who she thought was Tracey on Great North Rd with a man in a brown suit. Both got into a brown car that drove off just after 9.30 pm. Despite public appeals, the woman caller was never found.

A Ford Thames van was seen in the area at the time Tracey vanished. About 15 months later, a road map with Tracey's name written on it was found in an old Thames van. The van's owner was cleared, but the owner at the time of the murder was never found.

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. They were unable to trace the caller.

An anonymous informant gave police a six-digit number - 126040 - saying it was connected with Tracey's death. Detectives tried everything, including phone numbers, social welfare benefit numbers and military service numbers, but could never find out what the number meant.

They investigated 600 suspects, and as late as 1994 re-interviewed a suspect, which led nowhere.

Those were the days before DNA testing and Mr Scott, who retired as an assistant commissioner, is disappointed that he and his team never cracked the case.

"We didn't have much to go on at the time. It always amazed me that someone didn't see her disappear off the Great North Rd."

Police believe Tracey was murdered elsewhere and dumped in the Waitakeres.

Shortly after her death, the Patients took the body back to London's Manor Park Cemetery for burial. They returned to Britain and went into near seclusion, angry and devastated.

Mr Patient says the family visits Tracey's grave every month and will be there today.

He told the Herald it has been difficult to hold his family together over the past 25 years. He became protective of his other daughters, only lifting the net when they married and left home.

In the early days, he says, it was painful just to hear Tracey's name.

"It's very tough, if you could imagine. No one expects their children to die before them, do they? It's been a strain all round."

The Patients have joined support groups for the families of murdered people and found it a great way of coping.

Mrs Patient is stronger now, says her husband, "but she still gets days when she's down."

He says the family are frustrated that the killer has never been caught, but they have not given up hope.

He appeals for anyone who has held on to information all this time to call the police.

"Hopefully something will come up ... I just hope someone comes forward to give them a little bit of a lead so they can get going on it."