Sinister Dynasty - New Zealand (NZ) True Crime Podcast

Andi talks to Ayla about Marie Jamieson, who was reported missing on the 12th of February 2002 after a night out with her friends. Marie’s body was found seven days later behind an engineering factory on Mihini Road in West Auckland, with her clothes next to her. It was clear Marie was a victim of sexual assault, however the semen came back as unknown on the DNA database. 6 years later, familial DNA testing became available in New Zealand, which found it very likely that the semen came from a relative of a lady called Anneke Bishop. Her brother, Joseph Reekers, had multiple convictions including theft and rape, however, police were not able to obtain a voluntary DNA sample from him. He was later caught stealing salami from a supermarket which made him have to provide a sample, which exactly matched the semen found on Marie’s body. It was later found that he was on methamphetamine and had stabbed Marie a minimum of three times. Reekers was convicted for Marie’s murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010 with a minimum non parole period of 15 years.

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Ayla tells Andi about Alfred Biddle, the local blacksmith in Mayfield in 1913.  John and Rosana Lilley and their four children lived in the same community. John was a contractor and was away for nights at a time, so Rosanna was left to put the kids to bed. One night while John was away, Alfred ran over to the Lilley’s and told Rosana that she was urgently needed by Mrs Montgomery, who was sick. Rosana placed a rain coat over her dressing gown rand followed Alfred into the night. When two nights later she had not arrived, her eldest went to the Montgomery’s only to find that Mrs Montogomery was not sick, and they had not seen Rosana. Mr Montgomery called John home and it was found that two of Rosana’s best dresses were also missing. John at first thought Rosana had left him, however later found his wife face down in tussock, dead. He called the police who saw that Rosana had been hit multiple times by a hammer which was found nearby covered in hair and blood. It was later found that the Montgomery’s had invited Alfred over for dinner, where he had asked for directions to the Lilley’s. It is thought that Alfred committed the murder, before trying to commit suicide via poisoning. He was hanged at Lyttleton Gallow in 1913 after admitting to murder. Neither of Rosana’s dresses have been found. 

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Andi talks to Ayla about Alice Parkinson, who had been dating a man called Walter West for about 6 years and they were recently engaged. Alice believed this love would last, and when she fell pregnant in 1914, she was very excited and spent her savings on readying their house for the baby. Unfortunately, she lost the baby in 1915, and Walter decided he did not want to marry her and moved out. By this time, she had no money, no baby, and no partner. Her reputation was also hit due to the illegitimacy of her baby’s birth. She tried to win Walter back, however when this did not work, she began to threaten him. Having no success, she then confronted Walter at his property, before shooting him in the head and then herself. While she did kill Walter, she did not kill herself and was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to life imprisonment, despite the jury wanting to show her mercy due to the events leading up to the murder. Alice was in prison for 5 years during which campaigns for her freedom were rolled out due to the controversy surrounding the case.

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Ayla and Andi discuss the Larnoch Road Murders in Auckland. The case starts with the drowning of Deane Fuller-Sandys, however his body was never found. 5 days later, Leah Stephens also went missing, and her remains were found 3 years later in a forest in 1992. Police later received a tip that the two cases were related. Previously, Gail Maney and Tania Wilson lived at 22 Larnoch Road. Gail was dating Stephen Stone, who was an active gang member. The two ladies went out to a party and came back to find their house robbed. Gail thought it was Deane who had sold drugs to her previously. She confronted him however Deane denied it despite being accused repeatedly by Gail. Later, Gail asked Stephen to place a hit on Deane. Deane was seeing someone at the time who was asked by Gail to have him stop in at 22 Larnoch when on his way out fishing. When Deane arrived, he was confronted by Gail, Stephen and eight other people, and shot multiple times before having his body buried in Woodhill Forest area. It was later found that his car had been driven to Whatipu Beach where it was presumed he had drowned whilst out fishing. Leah was there when Deane was murdered; she became very nervous and started talking. Stephen and two others took her back to 22 Larnoch where she was physically and sexually assaulted, before her throat was slit and her body was taken to the Waitakari Ranges. When she did not show up to work, she was reported missing to the police. After two years, Gail was convicted of commissioning Stephen to kill Deane. Stephen was charged with the murder of Deane and the rape of Leah. Gail continued to state she had no idea who Deane was and only heard of him when she was charged with his murder. Stephen is also adamant he was not involved in the two murders. Gail and Stephen were convicted despite there being no DNA, blood matches, or weapons. There is also many different versions of what happened.

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Andi and Ayla explore the baby farming era and Minnie Dean’s involvement. Minnie moved from Scotland to Invercargill with her two children in the early 1860s. Once in New Zealand she married Charles Dean, and they adopted two further children. Years later, after moving into a two-bedroom cottage, Minnie found one of her children and two grandchildren dead in a well, a suspected murder-suicide. It was around this time that Minnie started partaking in ‘baby farming’ or taking in unwanted children for money, with up to 9 young children at once. In 1889 and 1891, two babies lost their lives under Minnie’s care. The outcome of this was for Minnie to provide better living conditions for her children. 6 weeks’ later another baby died, leaving the public to think Minnie was to blame, despite investigations coming to nothing due to inadequate child welfare laws. In 1895 Minnie was seen boarding a train carrying a baby and a hatbox, then on her way home was spotted with only the hatbox. Minnie was again investigated, and three children were found buried in her yard. In 1895 she was found guilty of the murder of Dorothy Carter and was sentenced to death by hanging. Out of the 26 children she had in her care, one was reclaimed by their family, five were found healthy, and six had died. The fate of the others is unknown.

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Our most lighthearted case yet! Andi talks to Ayla about George Wilder, a prison escapee. He was first sent to New Plymouth prison in 1961 for burglaries, thefts and car conversions. In 1962 at age 25 he escaped by climbing the prison wall and escaping into the country and was caught 65 days later. He was transferred to Mount Eden prison and had an extra 3 years added to his 4-year sentence. 6 months later, he escaped again, despite patrols every 30 minutes in his unit. He used hacksaw blades and a homemade key which he got from other inmates, cutting the lock from his door before going around the unit and asking if anyone else wanted to escape. George and 3 prisoners escaped to the yard and then used sheet ropes to lower themselves down the prison wall. The 3 prisoners were caught a few days later, but George was not caught for 172 days. By this time, he had both national and international coverage. He survived by breaking into people’s homes, eating their food and then leaving them thank you notes. Once caught, his new sentence was 13 years, longer than what most murderers were getting. However, he managed to escape again! With two other prisoners and a sawn-off shotgun, George kidnapped a prison warden and took him to a house 1.5km away, taking the people inside the house captive too. 3 hours later George was caught. He was released on 20th June 1969.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Check out George's song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwOV6N2_RsY

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Ayla covers the unusual deaths of the Bolton family, and New Zealand's last ever execution before capital punishment was abolished. 

Listener Discretion is advised, expect descriptions of violent crimes, and horrific injuries.

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Andi and Ayla discuss Jan Molenaar, who lived in Napier at the time of the event. Molenaar had hatred for gangs and police which may have been caused by his brother losing his life due to methamphetamine. Police had thought Molenaar was running a drug operation at his home and so three officers visited the Chaucer Road property in 2009, while Molenaar was out walking his dog. His partner Delwyn Keefe let the police in and showed them the drugs, but told police Molenaar would be very angry if he found the police in his house and advised them that he also had a gun. A friend of the couple, Lenny Holmwood, came over about the same time Molenaar arrived back, with Molenaar going down the hallway to get his gun. Seeing the threat, the three officers walked back to the car with Molenaar watching them from his upstairs balcony. One officer hesitated at the car which caused Molenaar to shoot, killing Senior Constable Len Snee. The two other officers tried to run and Molenaar followed, however he was stopped by Lenny whom he shot and injured in the fight. Molenaar then went back to the balcony where he continued to shoot, before holing himself inside after the Armed Offenders Squad arrived. Two days later, police were able to enter the property where they found Molenaar dead in the master bedroom.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Find out more about donating blood here: https://www.nzblood.co.nz/

More on Constable Len Snee here.

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This podcast is a big change from the lighthearted cover we normally go for. Ayla tells Andi about the Aramoana shooting in 1990 done by David Gray. Leading up to the shooting, the loss of his mother impacted Gray greatly and he started to spend more and more time alone. One day, Gray felt he was overcharged a bank fee and so came home angry. Here he had a run in with his neighbour, Garry Holden. Gray then collected a gun from inside his house before shooting Holden multiple times, killing him. He went into Holden’s property after seeing his three girls, shooting all three and killing two. Chiquita Holden escaped before the house went up in flames, going to another neighbour who called 111. The community saw the house fire and so went to help put it out, in return being shot at by Gray. 13 people in total lost their lives including four children, with two more children and a police officer being critically injured. David was shot and injured by the Armed Offenders Squad when exiting a house and died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. 

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Ayla talks to Andi about Wendy’s disappearance in 1961, which at the time of writing is New Zealand’s oldest missing person case. At the age of 16 she met up with a photographer to do calendar work for money. The photographer, John Maltby, had placed the ad under a fake name due to his wife not agreeing with this type of work. Wendy and John first met later the day that John’s youngest child was born. A few days later, Wendy told her mum she was off to an interview and was last seen being driven by John. Her mum called the police when she did not arrive home. When questioned by police, John said he dropped Wendy off at Manners Street before viewing houses, getting some food, visited his wife in hospital and then going home. He answered questions confidently, which could have meant either he hid Wendy's body where nobody would ever find it, or he was not involved at all. Three days after Wendy’s disappearance, John ran away from his monitored house into the surrounding shrub. His body was found another three days later floating at Island Bay beach due to drowning. Sixty years later and no evidence has been found regarding Wendy’s disappearance. 

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Music by Kyle Hsieh