Yeti Yarns: Dark mysteries in paradise

The road leading to the house where Colin Goode's body was found on Great Barrier Island in 1999.

Yeti Yarns - Paul Charman takes a Skoda Yeti in search of interesting people and places out of town.

Great Barrier Island is a friendly place, similar to New Zealand in a bygone era in which people looked out for one another and boasted they never locked their doors.

You can't fault the Barrier for fishing, hiking or just relaxing and the welcome from residents makes any holiday memorable.

If it's a restorative weekend away from the city you're after, this is the place.

Many a holiday maker is so impressed with the cheap housing and easy lifestyle that they inquire about living and working on the island full time.

Great Barrier Island is beautiful, as this shot of Whangapoua (Mabey) Beach shows. But even here there are dark secrets.

They're likely to learn builders, tradespeople and a few other vocations can do well, but that the superb lifestyle comes at a cost.

For example, with the exception of local produce, food sold in local shops must be freighted in, even meat and fish.

An irony is that excellent meat is grown on Barrier farms, while the coastline teems with fish.

Also, without a secondary school there's the same old vexed question that challenges much of rural New Zealand - how best to educate children once they leave primary school.

The choices are boarding schools on the mainland or doing lessons by correspondence, both of which have their drawbacks.

It's the largest community in New Zealand operating off-grid, but that's a point of pride for tech savvy locals. There's almost universal use of clean and green solar-based electricity generation.

But even this "can do paradise" has some dark secrets.

Among them, in 1997 American woman Nancy Frey-Hershey went missing at Schooner Bay in 1999 and reclusive Claris resident Colin Goode was found dead in his home in 1999.

Police still hope to complete the files on these cases but as I found on my travels, few reminders of the people concerned now remain.

Nancy Frey-Hershey

In a small seaside reserve off Shoal Bay Road, Great Barrier Island a wooden plaque stands beside a squat pohutukawa.

In a small seaside reserve off Shoal Bay Road, Great Barrier Island, a wooden plaque stands beside a squat pohutukawa. The words are "Nancy Frey Gone Missing Sep 1997". It's said the tree has not grown since being planted in the late 1990s.

I parked the Yeti and went to examine the sole memorial to the popular Barrier resident who disappeared in 1997.

Not much to see, just "Nancy Frey Gone Missing Sep 1997" and a pohutukawa tree which, according to locals, hasn't grown a centimetre since being planted in the late 1990s.

American Nancy Frey-Hershey was in her late 40s when she went missing on Great Barrier Island.

Many theories exist as to how the popular American disappeared from the island about 18 years ago, among them a persistent but apparently baseless one, that her disappearance was linked to the Scott Watson Case.

Officially Nancy died on or about September 25, 1997 on Great Barrier "from unascertained causes", so her police file remains open.

The plaque was carved by friends of the late woman, aged in her late 40s when she vanished.

Barrier folk I met recalled Nancy as somebody who could massage backs and ease pain, a woman who fitted well in well was keen to acquire residence in New Zealand.

Auckland Coroner Mate Frankovich agreed, calling her, "forward-looking . . . with no suicidal intentions or signs of depression".

Mr Frankovich said she took an active part in integrating with island community and police ascertained she had no known enemies.

Nancy's absence was reported to police on September 26, though inquiries showed she'd missed appointments the previous day.

The local constable and volunteers began searching immediately, turning up some clothing part way down a steep cliff, about 350 m from Nancy's Schooner Bay home.

A search by Auckland detectives later that day revealed her front door was open and her watch and other valuables were still in the house. There was no suicide note or any signs of violence.

A half-finished letter, addressed to a German national, lay on the table and some stew in a pot on the coal range.

The clothing found halfway down the cliff face - including a cardigan, beret and gumboots - was positively identified as Nancy's.

The cardigan had patches of dirt and sleeves of the cardigan were pulled inside out.
Despite exhaustive efforts by the police no body was ever found, but after two years it was concluded Nancy was dead.

Mr Frankovich considered the scenario that she had toppled to her death from the top of the cliff, sustained serious injuries and drowned in the sea below.

"However, that raises the question of how her cardigan and gumboots fell off during the fall.

"Secondly, had the deceased been scaling the cliff and having reached a given point, then shed herself of her gumboots and cardigan?"

But because of rain at the time he doubted this, and asked why she would be wearing gumboots to climb a cliff.

"I cannot exclude the two previous scenarios nevertheless I cannot exclude the possibility of foul play. It may well be that her clothes were planted on the cliff face to give the impression that the deceased had fallen to her death. In this connection, it is significant the sleeves of the deceased's cardigan were inside out. To my mind this may have had an innocent explanation, but may also have had a sinister one."

Colin Goode
According to Herald files the decomposing body of Colin Michael Goode, 51, was found on June 30, 1999, in his isolated home near Claris.

His right hand was missing and police treated his death as a homicide.

The road leading to the house where Colin Goode's body was found in 1999. Despite comprehensive post mortem examinations, no cause of death could be established.

Mr Goode, a former gardener with Auckland City Council parks and a known cannabis grower on the island, had last been seen in April that year. He had minimal contact with the outside world. Mr Goode's body was lying on a double bed in the master bedroom. The remains of his dog were also in the room.

Police found two rifles, a .303 and a .22, in the bedroom but said Mr Goode did not die from gunshot wounds.

Despite "comprehensive" post mortem examinations, no cause of death could be established, police said yesterday.

The body of suspected murder victim Colin Michael Goode was discovered in his house on June 30, 1999.

Auckland coroner Murray Jamieson yesterday suppressed details of injuries to the hand and arm.

Police at the time revealed Mr Goode had complained in 1991 that he had been assaulted in his home by armed Mongrel Mob members demanding 13kg of cannabis they claimed he had.

They allegedly robbed him of a kilogram of cannabis and $1240.

The officer in charge of the homicide investigation, Detective Superintendent Andy Lovelock, told the coroner's court the inquiry involved a number of experts.

Mr Lovelock also met agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in March 2000 to discuss the case.

The head of the inquiry, Detective Senior Sgt Andy Lovelock. at Mr Goode's home. Mr Lovelock said some residents of Great Barrier knew more than they revealed.

In 2002 a person who alerted police to the fact Mr Goode had not been seen for some time died from a drug overdose.

The man's name was suppressed by the coroner.

"He was interviewed extensively as part of the investigation and it is a matter of conjecture as to whether he was in possession of any other information," said Mr Lovelock, who later told the Herald the man was not a suspect.

Dr Jamieson said the police had carried out a substantial investigation and "have gone as far as they possibly can" to find out if another person was involved in the death.

He said a small possibility remained that the case could be reopened and recorded an open finding.

Mr Lovelock said police had "worked extremely hard to get to the bottom of the matter but unfortunately due to a number of difficulties we are unable to arrive at an outcome".

Great Barrier police officers, Senior Constables Roger Bright and Kylie Robbins, would welcome further information.

Paul Charman's trip to Great Barrier was sponsored by Sealink and Skoda New Zealand.