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The parents of slain hairdresser Marie Jamieson had been dreading the day police made an arrest, says a close family friend. Chris Reeve said Yvonne and Gerry Jamieson were on a cruise from Tahiti to Sydney when they heard a 51-year-old had been charged with raping and murdering their 23-year-old daughter.
"If you ask me how they're coping, the truth is they're not," Reeve said. "We're farming folk and for the first 40 years of our lives, never in our wildest dreams expected this to happen to any one of our families."
Marie was last seen at an Auckland service station at about 9.20pm on February 10, 2001. Her naked, beaten body was found wrapped in plastic between factories in West Auckland's Ranui two days later.
Police spent seven years on the case before making a shock arrest this week. DNA from a sickness beneficiary living in Kaitaia matched a sample found on Marie's clothing. He has been charged with her rape and murder but his name is suppressed. Police have not ruled out further arrests.
Reeve said Marie's parents would spend time with her siblings in Australia and would not rush home for the defendant's next court appearance on Wednesday.
"The tragedy here is you would never find a better family than the Jamiesons," said Reeve. "They are wonderful, rural people who contribute to the community."
