Tracey Ann Patient

The Patient family emigrated to New Zealand from England to start a new life in c. 1973. At around 9pm on 29 January 1976 13-year-old Tracey Ann Patient began the short five-minute walk home from a friend's house at Chilcott Road in Henderson, Auckland. She was last seen alive around 295 Great North Road, Henderson, running towards Dellwood Avenue and late for her 9:30pm curfew. She never reached home and her father and sister were driving around Henderson looking for her. A man walking his dog in the Waitakere Ranges in West Auckland early the next morning stumbled upon her discarded body 15 kilometres away in the bush area on Scenic Drive. She had been strangled with pantyhose tightened with a stick and her body dumped. The pantyhose did not belong to her, she was wearing cords. Tracey's signet ring (given to her by her boyfriend) and items of clothing were removed. Her parents June and John Patient, with surviving daughters Debbie and Denise, returned to the UK. They took Tracey's body with them, burying her in a London cemetery. More than 600 suspects were interviewed by police but her killer has never been caught.

On 22 November 1977 a man (likely the killer) phoned the Henderson Police Station. He said, "Listen, I am not going to give you my name or anything like that. I'll give you information about the PATIENT murder once and once only". He then described the ring being outside in the rubbish bin of the Urgent Dispensary wrapped in purple tissue paper. He further said, "Take this number down : 126040. I will ring back on the 30th". The caller never rang back.