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Join our team of "Cold Case" detectives as they use blowfly larvae, sea lice and tide charts to unravel the mystery surrounding the execution-style murder of 25-year-old David Robinson.

A team of specialist detectives re-examine some of New Zealand’s most chilling unsolved murders.

Primary Title
  • Cold Case
Episode Title
  • David Robinson: 1998
Date Broadcast
  • Sunday 16 June 2019
Start Time
  • 20 : 30
Finish Time
  • 21 : 35
Duration
  • 65:00
Series
  • 1
Episode
  • 6
Channel
  • TVNZ 1
Broadcaster
  • Television New Zealand
Programme Description
  • A team of specialist detectives re-examine some of New Zealand’s most chilling unsolved murders.
Episode Description
  • Join our team of "Cold Case" detectives as they use blowfly larvae, sea lice and tide charts to unravel the mystery surrounding the execution-style murder of 25-year-old David Robinson.
Classification
  • AO
Owning Collection
  • Chapman Archive
Broadcast Platform
  • Television
Languages
  • English
Captioning Languages
  • English
Captions
Live Broadcast
  • No
Rights Statement
  • Made for the University of Auckland's educational use as permitted by the Screenrights Licensing Agreement.
Subjects
  • Television programs--New Zealand
  • Unsolved murders--New Zealand
Genres
  • Crime
I remember driving to the scene for the first time, and I was completely bewildered by where I was going. I was just struck by how remote the area was. In 1998, three days after Christmas, the body of a man was discovered on an isolated beach. It appeared he had been shot execution-style. Everything was a complete mystery. Nothing was known. Who was this man? How did he come to be there? How long had he been there? Where was he killed? We had no answers to any of those questions. (BROODING MUSIC) Fingerprinting revealed the man was 25-year-old David John Robinson. His parents hadn't seen him in eight years. We always wanted reconciliation. We never stopped hoping, ever. To lose a loved one in a violent way is life-changing and devastating. As a detective, you're really just working your heart out to make sure that you get the result. (UNSETTLING MUSIC) David Robinson was antisocial; he was a loner; he liked isolation; and for those reasons, we struggled to get a good, clear picture of David. Although two decades on, police believe it's never too late to solve a cold case, but your help is imperative. There has been a lot of talk over the years. Someone out there knows what has happened to David. We've brought together a specialist team to review some of New Zealand's most haunting unsolved murders. They'll use their skills, expertise and up-to-date technology to look at evidence with fresh eyes. For those involved in the original investigation, it's a constant torment that the case didn't get solved. These types of investigations, they take their toll. They weigh on you. You look at what you did, what you should've done better. You scrutinise your investigation, and it stays with you. 20 years later, David's killer still hasn't been held to account. JACQUI: It's a very callous way to have died. (GUN COCKS) Someone has had to have had quite a cold heart to be able to do something as extreme as that. Can you help us solve David Robinson's murder? ('COLD CASE' THEME) Captions by Maeve Kelly. Edited by Chelsea Brady. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019 (FOREBODING MUSIC) On December 28 1998, a family four-wheel driving on a remote West Coast beach south of Hokitika came across what they thought was a dead seal. On closer inspection, it was the body of a man. CHRIS: The first officer on the scene approached the body. The deceased was in a state of decomposition. He had no upper clothing on. He was face down. He had no footwear on ` one sock on and one sock off. He had obvious signs of having been out in the sun, having been out in the elements. The officer turned the body over, and it was at that point that he saw that... David had a gunshot wound to the forehead. With the body in an advanced state of decomposition, identifying the man was a huge challenge. A homicide inquiry's a challenge to all your skills. In the first 36 hours of this investigation, everything was a complete mystery, so we had to start piecing together the vital information. (ZIP WHIRRS) It was quite evident that David had been dead for some time. Police say the victim probably died from a single bullet wound. He'd been shot in the centre of the forehead. Only two fingers were suitable for fingerprinting, but they proved crucial. On December 30th, the man was identified as David Robinson. A car pulled up, and a man hopped out and asked who I was and then asked me if I had a son called David John Robinson and could I give his birthdate. And then he just... He couldn't say it any other way but, 'I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Mrs Robinson, but your son has been found dead 'on a remote beach out of Hokitika,' and, um, then proceeded just to tell me that he'd been murdered. I-It was complete... disbelief. Because David had lost contact with his family, the original investigators started to build a profile based on his criminal history. He was itinerant. He was unemployed. He didn't draw a benefit of any sort. He lived hand to mouth by what he gained from petty crime, thefts. He was capable of walking big distances ` up to 30km or 40km a day. He liked to be... left alone to himself. He would set up camp in remote areas, and he'd live rough, so he was a difficult man to track for those reasons. It was devastating for David's parents, who had always hoped their son would return to them. He wasn't always a loner. He was a typical little boy. He had the most gorgeous little face. He was friendly; he was outgoing with people when he was little. We often took our children to the bush; John shot for food. He loved the bush. Mm. Maybe it rubbed off from us. Cos they were only this big and that big. Had to come with us. It was compulsory. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) Right from an early age, David had behaviour issues, and that never improved, really. David had been stealing from about 7 years old. If he saw it and nobody was there, they'd lose it ` didn't matter who it was or what it was. When he was 11, unfortunately, there was a bully at the school, older than Davey, and that made it terribly difficult for the boy. As a teenager, David became withdrawn, and his behaviour only deteriorated. We tried everything. He didn't like school. He hated authority; he hated having to be accountable to authority. He just hated it. At 17, David left home. His parents equipped him with camping gear and sent him off with their blessing. We encouraged him to ring us. 'I don't care what time. We don't wanna ever lose touch.' He knew. He knew we loved him, and he knew we cared. But it didn't take long for him to come to police attention, and by his early 20s, David's convictions were starting to stack up. He was arrested many times for petty crime. He would steal food, money,... you know, steal from cars, committing these crimes so he could live day-to-day. He might ring us at 8 or 9 or 10 at night. I never knew where from. But he only ever told us what he wanted us to know, which was nothing. He'd become a vagabond, in a sense, and was just moving around. David made his way to the South Island, where he was arrested in late 1997 and spent some time in jail in Invercargill. While in custody, David confessed to dozens of burglaries. He wrote to his parents from jail, but they would never see him again. (SEA BIRD CRIES) On December 28 1998, he was discovered shot near Bold Head. .22 round which killed him entered his forehead in a very central position and flew quite horizontally to the back of his skull, killing him. That has all the hallmarks of being an aimed shot. David's body was removed within hours, and the full scene examination could begin. In 1998, I was working as a detective sergeant. On the 31st of December, I was asked to come over and coordinate the crime scene and examination. I travelled down to Ross. I remember driving to the scene for the first time. We went through gates and across creeks and then through a lagoon, and then, all of a sudden, we were out on the Bold Head part of the beach. It was a challenging area of terrain. The area was sieved for shell casings and any other evidence. We gathered insects to look at their development stage in order to try and establish how long David had likely been in that area. We believe that he could've been literally dumped there by the surf. The initial pathology report suggested David had been on the beach for around two weeks, so police tried to piece together his last movements. West Coast Police have begun a door-to-door canvass of the Ross township in their inquiry into the murder of transient David Robinson. We appealed for sightings through radio, TV. We did pamphlet drops. The challenge for us was to get the public to understand that... whilst this is the way David chose to live ` through petty crime ` that he was a real person, that he deserved better, that his death was brutal, and that we all have a responsibility when someone in the community is killed like that to try, as a community, to deal with it. Dozens of people came forward with possible sightings. It appeared David had been in the Ross and Hokitika areas in the weeks leading up to his death. Officers started to look for evidence of any of his camps. Overall, I think there was about 15 campsites that were examined. Any wrappers that were left, we would forward for analysis to see if we could link 'em. We looked at theories of whether he had been burgling baches, that he was looking to rip off cannabis grows. Cannabis growing was rife on the remote West Coast, and growers were known to protect their plots at any cost. There were a number of people who became suspects because they had the... profile of someone capable of this level of violence. Some of those suspects, they were also known to be commercial cannabis growers. But aside from a possible motive, police have no real evidence to link any of the suspects to David's brutal killing. Suspicion is a useful tool, but it only gets you so far. In terms of proving a murder to the highest standards, I knew we were well short. For me, it was very frustrating that we weren't able to answer a lot of the questions, that we weren't able to narrow down a scene, that we weren't able to better develop suspect information. And... it feels like failure. Who could've murdered David Robinson? Where was he killed, and what was the motive? Can a new investigation answer these questions? And do you have any information that can help the police? Want a hand with healthy? Tear into one of our tasty Sealord pockets. It's a fusion of real ingredients and delicious tuna that's gently slow-cooked to lock in the flavour, and that's what makes our pockets * In 1998, David Robinson was found dead on a remote South Island beach, killed by a single gunshot, execution-style. No one has been held to account for his murder. The police, in an investigation like this, are reliant on people who know what's happened. We need to encourage them to see it through the eyes of the victim and the parents and people who have suffered for 20 years. We've brought together a group of cold case specialist detectives to spearhead a new inquiry. Leading our review will be Detective Senior Sergeant Jacqui Corner, the new officer in charge of the case. I think it's really important when you start to re-look at an investigation that occurred 20 years ago, to make sure that you go in there with no preconceived ideas. You want to be able to have a fresh pair of eyes. I'm really hoping to be able to get some answers for David's parents. Detective Sergeant Chris Power will provide insight into the original investigation. We had to make assumptions based on the best information at hand. The problem with assumptions is they can sometimes lead you down the wrong path. 20 years later, it's a useful process for the evidence to be looked at afresh. Detective Sergeant Brent Lyford is the 2IC on this case. He's been reviewing the file and is determined to get a result. I think there's a huge amount of questions that still need to be answered. The remoteness of where David was found is hugely problematic. The fact that we've got such a big timeline has also been hugely problematic. Do I think it's solvable? Yes. I definitely think it's solvable. Three detectives; one cold case. It's time for the David Robinson investigation to begin. We will also be looking to you, the viewer, to help solve this homicide. So, let's start at the beginning. When was the last confirmed sighting of David? Well, what we do know is that David was arrested on the 4th of November 1998, in Haast. He was transferred to the Greymouth Central Police Station cells, where he remained in custody for about a week. He struck up conversations with prisoners. He said that once he got bail, then he was going to head south to Haast, and he was going to be down there harvesting some cannabis. The witnesses that were in the cells actually thought that some of what he was saying was bravado and that it was just him talking himself up. When David was bailed, he had a number of items with him, including a Driza-Bone oilskin overcoat, a backpack, a blue sleeping bag, a blue groundsheet. He was carrying a red Swiss army knife and white enamel cup. These items have never been recovered, which I think's quite crucial. From there, well, we think that David has managed to go south, as there's been a number of potential sightings, but certainly nothing that we can hang our hat on and say that that's definitely David. He's quite pale, very, very tall. I haven't seen a lot of 6'4", 6'5" Coasters. And, of course, then he's got big thick set of hair. So I think David would've ` for want of a better term ` stuck out like a sore thumb. At the time, police received dozens of sightings, from Greymouth to as far south as Bruce Bay. The Cold Case team now focus on the most probable. JACQUI: What are the sightings that we are more confident of actually being David? There was a visit to the activities centre in Hokitika mid- to late-November. A male who fits David's description spoke to a woman there and gave his name as David. Heading south out of Ross, Donoghues Rd takes you down quite close to the beach area. One of the locals was walking through there early December, and he saw a male fitting David's description, but lying face down, and he watched the figure for a while and then moved on and warned other residents to beware of this male in the bushes. There was a sighting outside the Roddy Nugget in Ross, where, again, someone fitting David's description in early December was seen scavenging for cigarette butts. So we had that mooching type of behaviour, along with a description that fitted David, suggesting quite strongly that that would've been him. What's the last sighting that we have? Well, we've got several. We've got a couple that the timeline is a little bit loose. We've got between the 14th, potentially, the 18th of December, which is a sighting near the Hokitika River, near the bridge. It was of a male fitting the general description. There was a sighting, either the 8th, 11th or the 15th of December ` a male wearing a long jacket resembling David's description had gone into the Bushman's Centre and had purchased a pie. I'm fairly satisfied it's probably Robinson. But in all of the sightings, we've got no 100% hand-on-heart that it's David Robinson. These likely sightings put David in a 40km radius of Bold Head, where he was found shot dead on the 28th of December. The pathologist believed David had been there for 10 to 14 days. So, what is it that we know about the weapon? The bullet fragment located in David's skull was consistent with a .22 calibre projectile. There was what we call 'lands and grooves' on that bullet, which would indicate that it has come from a rifle. There was no sign of the weapon at the scene, and although unlikely, the team must consider suicide. We do know that the angle of the trajectory of that shot is unusual with suicide. There's no anecdotal evidence of him having any suicidal thoughts. We know that David was a loner and that he was very transient. He enjoyed his own company. The suicide theory just doesn't fit with me. Davey would never have done that to himself. I just don't believe it was in him to do that, ever, and we knew our son. We knew him. And on review of the pathology report, the detectives zero in on information that makes suicide even less likely and has never been revealed publically until now. We also have a large skull fracture that radiates from his left temple around to the back of his head. For him to have caused both of those injuries to himself, he'd have to be positioned by rocks to have shot himself and then fallen beside rocks. There was nothing within the scene at Bold Head that could've caused that skull fracture. It's such a significant injury, you'd have to think that it'd be incapacitating. That's what sort of led me to think that the two injuries are connected. So` Do we know that they go hand in hand? No, we don't. The pathologist, in his report, said due to the level of decomposition around the head area, that could not be dated. So we don't know whether it's happened before he was shot or whether that was after. It begs the question, 'Was David seriously assaulted prior to his death?' So the skull fracture's hugely important. With the head trauma unexplained, the detectives look for any possible clues to explain the serious injury. Following my review of the file, there was another sighting that I believe wasn't reviewed as well as it could have been. There was information that suggests that David was at a function in the area of Nelson Quay in Greymouth. Around the time that David went missing, it has been said that David was given a severe beating that actually caused his death. Two males have been mentioned as attending a chefs' course there at the time, and we have confirmed that there was a chefs' course in the area at the time. There was no mention of David being shot, but it could explain the fractured skull. Well, it certainly adds a different dynamic to what we have previously thought. It's a bit of left-field news to me, and it needs to be looked at. It needs to be resolved. If anyone was at that party or can recall David Robinson being at that party or what led to the fight, or any details around that whatsoever, we would appreciate hearing from them. Whatever happened at this party could be a vital piece of the puzzle in the cold-blooded murder of David Robinson. What makes you happy? Smarter ways to get around the city? Like driving past the petrol pump with the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Prius Prime ` goes up to 63km on electric alone... and has an unbelievably efficient fuel consumption. Whoa. That is clever. Plus, with Toyota Safety Sense technology, like Adaptive High Beam and Intelligent Park Assist, it's one of the smartest ways to get around ` all for a very smart Toyota Driveaway price. (HAUNTING MUSIC) Cold Case detectives are investigating the 1998 death of David Robinson. He was killed by a single gunshot to the forehead. (GUNSHOT ECHOES) This is about where David was found, lying on the beach, by the witness and the first officer arriving. How did he come to be here? He's between two rivers, but he's above the high-tide mark. What do we think about David actually being murdered right there and then? You could go back to look at what the motive would be to kill him on the beach at that location, and I can't see a motive. Can't have stumbled on to anyone's cannabis plot in that area, because there weren't any. He wasn't close to any baches or any vehicles that he could've broken into. It's hard to know how he could've caused the sort of offence to be shot dead. Despite its remoteness, it's... it's close to properties. It's an open area. It's difficult to access. I can't see how that would be the preferred location to take him and give him an execution-style death. Was David shot somewhere else and then transported, or brought, and just left at Bold Head? You'd need at least a four-wheel drive to get there; potentially a tractor. If you were to take David to where he was found on foot, you would certainly have to have an accomplice. Transporting a dead body into an open area and dumping it ` it's high-risk behaviour for someone trying to avoid detection. Just doesn't make sense to me. I think the obvious way that he has got there is being at sea for some period of time and washed up on the beach. Boots believed to be David's were found nearby ` one by the cliffs at Bold Head and the second 6km north, on the beach near Ross. We made an initial assumption that David had been in the surf and that the boots came off, and that would account for the separation. What was the understanding as to what the flow of the sea, or water, was going? The briefing that we were given was that there was a northerly current operating in the area, so the flow was from south to north. The area where David was found was between two rivers ` two river mouths ` the Waitaha and the Mikonui. Given the northerly drift, it certainly would fit that if he was put into the sea, it could've happened at the mouth of the Waitaha; or he could've been further up the Waitaha, been picked up by the sea and then carried north to his position. But could an early assumption about the northerly drift have misled the original inquiry? There was a couple of locals that talked about losing cattle in some of the rivers that run out to sea, and their observation was that cattle typically travelled south as opposed to the north flow. So in a southerly direction? Southerly direction. So contrary to the normal flow. That's right. Believing the current was northerly, police thought David's body had to have come from south of where he was found. Police now question that assumption and call in David Stapleton, who has an intimate knowledge of currents and tides in the area. There's a warm current that flows up, northwards, along the West Coast. I think people think that is the only current that happens, but it can get overcome by the wind acting on the sea. From memory, it's, sort of, about 75% from south to north and about 25% north to south, but if we look in December 1998, it's actually predominantly flowing to the south. It surprises me to learn this. It puts quite a different consideration on where and how David got to where he was found. If he went in by river into the sea, was he in the vicinity of the Totara River, which is north of the Waitaha? David's body was found high on the beach. Can the team's expert identify what tides could've carried him in? Will this give the team a more precise timeline? During December, we had spring tides round about the 4th, 5th and 6th, and then it went into a period of lower tides, and it was coming back into springs around about the 18th, 19th. Just having a look at the swell heights, they were quite high round about the 6th through to the 16th, and there were some... some about 2.5m round about the 20th. Would that cause David's body to be shifted on the beach, if he's getting caught in the...? It would` It potentially could lift it higher ` the sea would be going up higher ` than the mean high water spring because of that energy. BRENT: We believe he's been in that position for 14 days or less. 10 days from the day he was found takes us back to the 18th. That starts to align with your spring tide, doesn't it, David? Um, yes, there is a spring tide building up on the 18th ` 3.3, and it gets up to 3.4 through to the 20th. Data also shows there was particularly high rainfall on the 18th of December, which meant rivers would've peaked around that time, leading to a faster flow. Interestingly enough, witness puts a gunshot on the 18th in the area of the Kakapotahi River. CHRIS: We haven't resolved who fired a firearm at that time. That's... That's correct, which is something that we're going to need to go back to. The tides and weather begin to suggest a tighter timeframe for David's murder, and the unexplained gunshot falls right within it. What else can the Cold Case detectives glean? The pathology report said there was little evidence of sea lice, which meant David couldn't have been in the water for an extended period of time. The team now call on Jayne Bretherton to analyse the significance of the findings. Sea lice are really prevalent around here, and there's actually a colony of seals off the headlands, near Bold Head. Sea lice are found in areas where there are seals. They're quite ferocious eaters; they will consume 100 kilo fish within hours. So does that suggest to us that if he was introduced through a waterway, it had to have been quite close to Bold Head? Well, the longer that he's in the water would, obviously, increase, in my opinion, the chance of sea lice finding him and attacking him, so it would indicate to me that he spent a limited time in there. Whether David came from north or south of the scene, the team now believe he can't have hit the water far from Bold Head. I feel that we're able to tighten, or condense, where we're looking at. I agree. For me, it gives rise to the fact that he's entered the water in a generally small piece of area. If he had've gone in further north or further to the south, I think it's fair to say we would've seen more evidence of sea lice. 20 years on, with the team closing in on the area of David's homicide, will they now be able to narrow down the date of his murder, and will it bring them any closer to David's killer? * Our Cold Case experts are reviewing the unsolved murder of 25-year-old David Robinson, who was found dead near Bold Head late December 1998. Almost two weeks later, David was buried in the family plot in Thames. A very hard day and a very painful day, because it was a day... it was a day of closure, in a sense, for John and I, because we were never, ever reconciliated with our son the way that we had always wanted to be, and that... that was finalised. Yes. VOICE BREAKS: So, um... I'm usually very stoic. We know how draining this is on a family and that they've lost a family member in... in a violent way. It's a lifetime struggle for them. When he was lowered into the grave, that was it. All the hopes and dreams that we had for him had gone with him. Now that the team have been able to identify a tighter area of interest in David's murder, they want to hone in on the timing. They turn to the entomologist who originally worked on the case. Entomology can be used for` to determine the time of death because insects have a fixed life history, and if you work back with the environmental conditions where the insect has been growing, you can then work back to when it then arrived at that place. All but one of the larvae collected from David's body came from the Xenocalliphora blowfly, which was considered extremely unusual, because in the past, that particular fly wasn't known to lay on human corpses. The blowfly itself hasn't been found on human bodies before. It's a New Zealand native. Xenocalliphora usually breeds in decaying seaweed. David's body must have been conditioned to be able to allow it. The body had to have been on the beach long enough to not smell like human flesh to the blowfly any more. For the Xenocalliphora to be interested in the body, it would have to reach a stage of decomposition well into the bloat stage and could even be the start of the wet decomposition, cos they'll be feeding on the bacterial rather than on the flesh itself. I allowed four or five days for the body to be conditioned, and that meant 10 to 14 days for David's body to be there, based on the maggots' rate of development. All other specimens analysed by Dr Crosby reinforce this timeline. I can't see how David's body arrived at that beach earlier. It just doesn't fit with the entomology. Is it possible David was killed somewhere else days earlier and dumped within the area the team has identified? It's hard to say from the insect evidence, but if he had been several days elsewhere, you would expect to find different maggots at higher rate of development, that we did not see. Would that suggest to you that David's body was not brought from somewhere else and left? Correct. If there was around in a human settlement area, you would expect them to come to David's body and lay around the mouth region and the wound. Blowflies are really the vultures of the insect world. He would have to have been protected to prevent them laying eggs on him, and that's quite difficult to do ` to protect the body. Dr Crosby's analysis suggests that David's body likely arrived on the beach between December 14 and 19, which means the Cold Case team can now compress their timeline. Coupled with David Stapleton's evidence, the pathologist's evidence, and when we all put it all together, those dates stand out to me. Three independent experts potentially saying the same thing. But who killed him remains to be answered. Are we still happy that the cannabis motive and the burglaries, or the dishonesty ` stealing ` are the two likely motives here? You know, you have to come back to what you know about David and his habits. He survives by petty crime and burgling. It had to be a very real possibility down there that he stumbled into a cannabis grow, which, as we know, are often protected by growers who will use weapons. (GUN COCKS) You know, if it's someone defending their castle,... (TENSE MUSIC) ...that could be sufficient motive to kill him. It's possible that if he has been caught offending, things have escalated. Outside of that, you start to struggle to have a motive to kill someone in such a brutal way. In 1998, a number of people were looked into as possible suspects, but one in particular got the attention of police. He had the background of someone who was violent, had a background as a cannabis grower, and would defend his... interests. We considered that he would have the means and the motive. There were a number of concerns around him in terms of his association back to organised crime groups. He dropped into the local police station in Ross, asking about the progress of the investigation. It adds to the suspicion, in some ways. So we searched his bach under warrant, but there was still nothing, at the end of the day, to connect David to that bach or that site. He was interviewed, and he provided an alibi, to an extent. But he was never the only possible suspect, and in early 1999, helicopter searches were carried out to identify any cannabis plots close to where David was found. We located several cannabis-growing areas, but we weren't able to determine who the growers were. That's where we've got small gaps in the... of information in the inquiry. Do we really know who was growing cannabis ` for sure ` in that area in 1998, when David was killed? Do you have any knowledge of cannabis-growing operations on the West Coast in the late '90s that may be linked to David's murder? The Cold Case team also want your help with new information that's come into the inquiry. In 2016, police received some Crimestoppers information in relation to a known South Westland cannabis grower being responsible for David's murder. This particular person did grow cannabis high up in the Southern Alps, 40km to 50km from the coastline. That person has subsequently been spoken to by police and has refused to cooperate. I would find it unlikely that David would be 50km inland, but, again, if there are any witnesses that could point us in the right direction, then we certainly need to hear from those people. And for the first time, police can exclusively reveal a vital new lead that could bring them closer to David's killer. Some years after the original investigation, a letter was sent to the Police Commissioner with details about David's murder. That letter has named a person of interest, a location of interest, and we're also lucky to have a vehicle of interest in there. That letter is vitally important, and it's crucial to the investigation. So, what do we think about the person that has actually been named in that letter? It's my understanding that they certainly have the capability of causing that sort of injury. He was a West Coast local. There is loose information that this person was involved in the cannabis scene and potentially had gang affiliations. Active inquiries are ongoing into the man named in the letter, and, importantly for the investigation, the nominated location matches the area identified by the Cold Case experts. I think with the potential of David's body travelling south, that opens up some new avenues of inquiry. We certainly need to speak to the author of that letter so that we can establish the voracity of that information and take that information further. Nobody's saying that the author of that letter is the murderer. That's certainly not the case. What we're suggesting is that that person has got some valuable information. They've named the suspect in that letter. The team believe the as-yet unidentified letter writer has knowledge that could help bring David's murderer to justice, so locating the author is critical. Will new technology provide the means? * The unsolved murder of David Robinson has meant 20 years of unanswered questions for his grieving family. It saddens me that he continued breaking in and stealing, upsetting other people. However, I don't think he deserved to be shot in the head for that... at all. I hate to think that he may have suffered. I hope he didn't suffer. It never stops affecting us, ever. Yeah. You can't forget. No. (POIGNANT MUSIC) Police are determined to find David's killer. They've revealed, for the first time, that they have a letter naming a new person of interest in the investigation. The letter itself's useful, but unless the author comes forward, how do you confirm the reliability of that letter? What's been really exciting is in the last year, we have been able to re-examine that letter. There's been new technology that the police have acquired, and we have been able to discover some new information from that in lines of forensics. Enhancements have progressed our previous forensic results from that letter, which hopefully will be able to lead us to the possible author of that letter. Well, that's excellent, and it's really encouraging. And I'm confident, with the nature of that forensic evidence, that it's only a matter of time before we do identify that person. As the hub comes to an end, police now review what they need the public's help with. On December 18th 1998, a gunshot was heard in the Kakapotahi area. What I find very intriguing is all of the experts have indicated that it's very possible that David was deposited in and around the 18th. I spoke to another witness from that area. They did not hear the gunshot but had said that herself and several of her neighbours were never, ever spoken to during the initial inquiry. Police want to speak to anyone new from the Kakapotahi area, including hunters or visitors from late 1998, and they're calling for any sightings of David on the West Coast. Even the smallest piece of information could be of vital importance. Was he picked up by anyone driving a car? Does someone actually know where his property has gone? Did anyone else see him in that area who can provide us with that vital sighting? David's fractured skull and reports of a fight at a party in Greymouth need to be resolved. The key is to identify the two males that have, allegedly, had this altercation with David so that we can, firstly, either eliminate them... or to find out exactly what they know. Police have never located the firearm used in David's murder. The bullet fragment showed it was from a .22 calibre gun, likely a rifle. We need to locate that firearm. So if anybody knows of where that firearm is now or where it's been disposed of, we need to hear from those people. And, I mean, most definitely, we want the person who has written that letter. I mean, it's crucial to that person to come forward. Most definitely. While the hub is now over, the team now have definite new lines of inquiry. Quite excited about the investigation moving forward. We've got forensic evidence that... is a ticking time bomb. For David's parents, finding their son's killer will give them the closure they need. Well, we'd be able to lay it to rest once and for all. Once and for all. And Davey can rest in peace. Davey... wasn't an evil, wicked young man. He was our son, and we loved him. (BROODING MUSIC) And it's not just David's loved ones who want to crack this cold case. I think the public are the key for us in solving this investigation. Someone out there knows, and so that's what we need. This will mean an enormous amount to me if... this case gets solved, because it'll be the community solving a problem ` a violent act that happened within their community. And I think it's important, with something this callous, that whoever's been involved... that they answer for it. That's the way it should be.
Subjects
  • Television programs--New Zealand
  • Unsolved murders--New Zealand