New leads have prompted Waitemata Police to resume their investigation into the cold-case murder of 13 year-old girl Tracey Ann Patient.
Tomorrow will mark 40 years to the day that Tracey Ann disappeared in Henderson while walking home from a friend’s house.
The young girl was last sighted on Great North Road and was only a 5 minute walk from her home.
The next day her body was discovered on Scenic Drive, she had been strangled with a stocking and her body discarded just metres into the bush area.
A large-scale investigation was launched at the time and despite more than 850 persons of interest being profiled over the 40 years since Tracey’s murder, no-one has been identified and charged.
Police say that since November, a team of 8 investigators based at the Waitakere Police Station have been working fulltime on the Tracey Patient case.
Detective Sergeant Murray Free has been on the case for the past twelve years, he is leading the investigation team, with oversight from Detective Inspector John Sutton.
In the past 3 months, Detectives have made enquiries with a number of people, as far away as Australia.
Detective Inspector John Sutton of the Waitemata Police says, “Despite forty years having passed, someone out there knows who did this. To this day we still have people who ring us with information, and I’m pleased to say we are following new leads. “
“For forty years, the Patient family have lived with the absolute trauma of what happened to their daughter and sister, they have never known who took Tracey from them or why.
Sutton says, “It was horrific; a 13 year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her, just minutes away from home and brutally murdered. Someone out there knows who did this, and we are as determined to solve it now as we were back then.”
The 0800 number for Operation Tracey is 0800 000 111.
