It’s only recently that Debbie Patient has been able to hear a New Zealand accent without the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Debbie (50) was only 15 when her sister Tracey (then 13) was strangled with pantyhose tightened with a stick and dumped in a lonely bush area in the Waitakere Ranges in West Auckland.
The shocking murder of the pretty blonde teenager, whose family had emigrated from the UK three years before her death, led to a massive manhunt. More than 600 suspects were interviewed by police and the case has been reopened several times. But despite some hopeful leads, including Tracey’s signet ring being found in a rubbish bin in an Auckland shopping area after a police tip-off, her killer has never been caught.
Grief-stricken and unable to remain in the country where Tracey’s murderer was able to live freely, 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. Debbie threw herself into her studies as a way of getting through her loss.
“People thought I was coping and from the outside that’s what it may have looked like. But I wasn’t really,” she says. “I was at that age when you’re extremely aware of what your parents have been going through and that they have enough to worry about. I was tearing up inside but I didn’t want to be a burden on them by letting them know how upset I was.”
It wasn’t until Debbie finally realised she wasn’t dealing with Tracey’s death that she started on the path to mending her broken heart. She went to bereavement counselling and then, a decade after the murder, met her husband Gary. However, unanswered questions about her sister’s death continue to haunt her.
Then, last year, Debbie received an email that would bring those questions to the surface once again and reignite her determination to fi nd her sister’s murderer. The email was from a New Zealand woman she had never heard of or met, but who claimed to know the identity of Tracey’s killer. “I broke down crying when I read that email,” Debbie says quietly, speaking from her home in England. “oy family and I had resigned ourselves that the person responsible for Tracey’s death was never going to be found. But suddenly this woman contacted me. Since then, she’s given me all this information that may or may not be true. But I owe it to Tracey to take this as far as I can.”
The woman, known as “Rose”, claims her former neighbour’s son, then in his early twenties, killed Tracey.”Rose originally went to the police in 2006, but unfortunately they decided she was not a credible witness,” says Debbie.
The woman claims she was 11 years old when Tracey was killed and knew her neighbours well. She says that, just after the murder, the family car was locked in a garage, thoroughly cleaned, repainted then sold. She also claims she had seen the signet ring belonging to Tracey and that the man’s mother knew about her son’s crime.
Even though police have told Debbie that they have investigated these claims and found that many aspects cannot be substantiated, she is not satisfied. She believes that Rose’s information requires more investigation, and has contacted Prime oinster John Key and Police oinister Judith Collins in the hope that they will take further action.
“I know nothing is going to bring Tracey back,” she says with emotion. “But being contacted by Rose has opened all this up for me again and it will be a shame if nothing comes of this fresh information.” one source of information that Debbie firmly discounts, however, is hit TV show Sensing ourder. The Patient family refused to take part in a 2006 episode about the case.
The TV show’s resident psychics claimed to have contact with Tracey’s spirit and even named a suspect, who was investigated, then ruled out by police. It was a shock for Debbie to see the Sensing ourder episode about Tracey being shown on TV in the UK a year later. “I thought the psychics were talking a load of rubbish,” she says firmly.
Today, Debbie’s parents are in their seventies and continue to be traumatised by their much-loved girl’s death, with mum June having taken tranquilisers for many years to ease her pain. Time, and the addition of new family members, has provided some comfort, says Debbie. “Having grandchildren gave them something to focus on and be positive about,” Debbie says.
Debbie and Denise’s children grew up knowing all about their Auntie Tracey and seeing photographs of her. Debbie has informed her parents of the new claims, but admits she is cautious about how much to tell them. “They’ve built up a barrier to cope with it all. It has been 34 years now and it’s very diffi cult for them to deal with,” she says. “But I am trying to keep Tracey’s story in the public eye. I am hoping that someone’s memory or conscience might be jogged and they might then help to solve this case.”
Debbie who, along with the rest of the family, always refused to speak about the case to the media, has decided to break her silence by talking to the Weekly. She has agreed to publish previously unseen family snapshots of Tracey so people will remember that behind this murder case is the tragic loss of a vibrant young girl who had so much to live for. “I think the only way to find true peace for Tracey is to come face to face with the person responsible and ask them why they did it.”
And, although Debbie has kept her composure throughout our interview, the bottled-up anguish of losing her sister in such a terrible way suddenly bubbles to the surface. With her voice cracking as the tears begin to fall, Debbie sums up her feelings about Tracey. “I remember her with lots of love,” she says. “She was a good sister.”
