On the night of 29 January 1976, thirteen-year-old Tracey Ann Patient left a friend's house in Henderson, West Auckland, and ran for home along Great North Road, late for her 9.30 curfew. She was last seen about five minutes from her front door. The next morning a man walking his dog found her body in bush beside a layby on Scenic Drive in the Waitākere Ranges, strangled with pantyhose tightened with a piece of wood. Nearly two years later an anonymous caller led police to her missing ring, wrapped in tissue in an Avondale rubbish bin, and gave them a six-digit number, 126040. The caller promised to ring back and never did. Nobody has ever been charged.
IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING
Information can be given anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111 (crimestoppers-nz.org), or to Police on 105, quoting reference 990810/0373. Over the years police have asked about the meaning of the number 126040, about the identity of the person who rang Henderson police on 22 November 1977, about the driver of a cream or white 1967 Mark II Ford Cortina seen on Great North Road near Edmonton Road that night, and about anyone who has kept quiet about what they know. Tracey's sister Debbie asks people to come forward even if the person they suspect has died.
A NOTE ON SOURCING
No one has ever been charged in connection with Tracey's death, and no court has made any finding against any person. The coroner recorded a finding of homicide by strangulation with a ligature. Over fifty years police have examined hundreds of persons of interest. None is named in this episode, and anyone who was questioned and cleared is presumed innocent. Accounts from 1976 and 1977 come from New Zealand Press Association reports carried in The Press and accessed through Papers Past. Contemporary police statements say the pantyhose were not Tracey's, while some later reporting describes them as her own. Later police statements date the ring call to 1978, but contemporaneous reports put it at 22 November 1977. Debbie Sheppard's words come from her published interviews. The investigation remains open.
SOURCES
The Press (NZPA reports), 31 Jan 1976 to 18 Oct 1990, via Papers Past: paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
"Police hunt for murderer of strangled girl", The Press, 31 Jan 1976
"Car driver may have lead to girl's murder", The Press, 2 Feb 1976
"Evidence body was moved", The Press, 12 Feb 1976
"Tracey Patient reward of $10,000", The Press, 22 May 1976
"Ring a new clue in death?", The Press, 16 Dec 1977
"Patient inquest closed", The Press, 7 Feb 1978
"Numbers mystery in Tracy Patient case", The Press, 12 Dec 1980
NZ Police media release, Jan 2016: police.govt.nz
Lynley Ward, "Tracey Ann Patient killing: the 40-year murder mystery", NZ Herald, 28 Jan 2016
"New witness in Tracey Ann Patient cold case", NZ Herald, 3 Jul 2016
Matthew Gray, "Tracey Ann Patient: the case that shocked a nation", Stuff, 29 Jan 2016
"Mystery remains in cold case murder", Timaru Herald, 26 Oct 2016
RNZ, "Mystery of 40-year-old murder case continues", Oct 2016
Jared Savage, "What happened to Tracey Ann Patient in cold case murder 49 years ago?", NZ Herald, 29 Jan 2025
Debbie Sheppard with Claudia Siron, "Cold case murder: Do you know who killed Tracey Ann Patient?", that's life!, 9 Apr 2025
SUPPORT
This episode discusses the murder of a child. If it raises anything for you: 1737 (call or text), Youthline 0800 376 633, Safe to Talk 0800 044 334. In Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14.
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