Julie Michele Sands

The police found Julie's body by the Ashley River four days after she went missing. They were taken to the site by Ziggy Stardust Buckeridge, then 30, unemployed, who confessed to her murder in the police car on the way. He had buried Julie in a shallow grave and covered her in soil and rubbish and put an old car bonnet and a dead cat on top. Her foot, clad in a white sock, protruded from the grave. Buckeridge, originally from Invercargill, told police one thing had led to another. He and Julie had had a few beers, they had argued and he had cut her throat. (She was also stabbed in the chest). Tests showed Julie had had sexual intercourse within the last 24 hours but Buckeridge was ambiguous about whether he had raped her. A post mortem shows she has a 24cm cut from an ear to the opposite side of her neck. Her bra is ripped at the front and her underpants are missing. Her bubble gum jeans are cut at the front and are down below her hips. It is clear she had had sexual intercourse within the last 24 hours. Her blood contains cyclizine, a substance used in the manufacture of travel sickness medication and also has a small amount of alcohol. On October 27, 1992, a jury, after deliberating for about six hours, found Buckeridge guilty of murder and also of unlawful sexual intercourse. On the anniversary of Julie's death, her brothers and friends including Scott, take a few flowers to her grave in the Rangiora Lawn Cemetery which is about 500m from where she was murdered. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/75941520/faces-...