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On the evening of 1 December 2018, 21-year-old British backpacker Grace Millane went on a Tinder date in Auckland, New Zealand.

CCTV footage showed Grace laughing, drinking and enjoying a night out in the city centre before entering the CityLife Hotel with a man she had met only hours earlier.

She was never seen alive again.

What followed became one of the most high-profile murder investigations in New Zealand’s history. Through CCTV footage, forensic evidence, phone records and internet searches, detectives painstakingly reconstructed Grace’s final hours and uncovered a disturbing trail that led from a hotel room in central Auckland to a shallow grave in the Waitākere Ranges.

In this episode of What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight, we examine:

Grace’s life and world travels
Her arrival in New Zealand
The Tinder date that became a murder investigation
The CCTV timeline of her final hours
The disappearance that shocked two nations
The suitcase and burial site
The controversial “rough sex” defence
The murder trial of Jesse Shane Kempson
The verdict and sentencing
The wider debate around violence against women and victim blaming

This episode contains discussions of murder, sexual violence, coercive behaviour and themes some listeners may find distressing.

Listener discretion is advised.

Music by MUBERT

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Sources

Primary Reporting

New Zealand Herald Coverage Archive – Grace Millane Case
BBC News – Grace Millane Case Coverage
The Guardian – Grace Millane Trial Coverage
RNZ (Radio New Zealand) – Grace Millane Coverage

Case Information

Wikipedia – Murder of Grace Millane
Court of Appeal of New Zealand Judgment (Kempson Appeal)

Trial & Forensic Reporting

The Guardian – Pathology Evidence During Trial
BBC News – Jury Finds Kempson Guilty of Murder
BBC News – Sentencing of Jesse Kempson

Context & Analysis

ABC News Australia – Later Convictions and Predator Allegations Revealed
The Guardian – Debate Around Sexual History Evidence and the Rough Sex Defence

What They Hide: Hidden Crimes in Plain Sight
Because sometimes the truth isn’t hidden at all. It’s hiding where nobody thinks to look.