The flyer from the Crosbie’s Clearing Memorial service for Heidi and Urban, held by members of police and search and rescue.
The flyer from the Crosbie’s Clearing Memorial service for Heidi and Urban, held by members of police and search and rescue.
Ryan Wolf, host of The Guilt Podcast: True Crime, says he has found new information that will change what people think about the 1989 disappearance of Swedish tourists Heidi Paakkonen and Urban Höglin near Thames, and he hopes to help finally find Heidi.
Paakkonen, 21, and her fiance Höglin, 23, vanished while travelling New Zealand.
Their disappearance resulted in one of the biggest land-based searches undertaken in New Zealand. Only Höglin’s body was found, albeit two years later.
His remains were discovered by pig hunters near Whangamatā, 70km from where the pair were last sighted.
The Guilt Podcast: True Crime - Finding Heidi art.
Previously covering the cold cases of the 2012 murder of Paeroa’s Jordan Voudouris and the 2004 disappearance of Jim Donnelly from the Glenbrook steel mill near Auckland, Finding Heidi is the third season of The Guilt Podcast series.
“I became interested in podcasts five or six years ago. I got the thought that I could do one if I got the time.”
A family Christmas dinner sparked up conversation about the Voudouris murder and Wolf thought back to where he was at the time of the event.
“It always stuck with me that a person could be shot on the street and no one could ever be caught for it. I just thought, stuff it, I’ll buy some recording equipment and see if I can do something with this case,” he recalls.
“I had no idea about making a podcast or anything. I didn’t do it with big plans of making a big podcast career. I didn’t care about making money off it. I only started it thinking, there must be an answer to this. There must be more to this.”
Donnelly’s case came about from one of Wolf’s listeners. It was a case that he found “baffling”.
The Swedish tourists’ story became known to Wolf as David Tamihere’s appeal was coming up.
The stone is the memorial stone placed in the location Sven Urban Hoglin’s body was discovered by pig hunters in October 1991.
Released on life parole in 2010 after serving 20 years, Tamihere has mounted several appeals with a further appeal set for later this year.
“I figured the answer to where Heidi is must be somewhere in this case. It must be possible to at least look for her. I thought how sad it is, that poor girl is lying somewhere in this country - and she’s never been sent home,” Wolf says.
“I thought if I could go back over everything, have a really good look and speak to everyone in the case, maybe we could put together a few spots to have a really good search. No one else is doing it so I figure I might as well try.”
His legal background has come in handy as he has an appreciation of where the line is for pushing something too far.
“I’ve got a pretty good relationship with the police. I think podcasting is a growing medium - especially in the investigative environment.
“They have a job to do as well. So, I’m very careful to not say or do anything that might jeopardise any potential case against anyone.
“I know they listen to the podcast and I think they’ve understood that. In Jim [Donnelly’s] case, after the podcast, I know from someone at the steel mill that the police went back out and stirred up a whole new hornets’ nest.”
He said with the current case, as far as the police were concerned, it was a done deal so he hasn’t come across much red tape.
“I’ve spoken to a couple of the police that were involved in it a long time ago. It is 34 years old, quite a lot of people have died now.”
This plaque was erected by police and search and rescue teams at Crosbie’s Clearing, where they believe the event took place.
In the first half of the Finding Heidi season, Ryan tells the story and paints the picture of the case.
Episode seven is where the investigation starts, and a new witness is introduced.
“The way things are going, this case is going to be blown wide open. Stuff that no one’s ever heard before. What’s going on in the podcast is only 10 per cent of what’s happening right now.”
Finding Heidi episode releases are live and weekly as Wolf is out in the field collecting new information.
He tries to bring the listener on the journey with him, so they don’t just see things that are “cherry-picked out”.
On average, 10 minutes of a podcast episode could equate to about 10 hours of work.
“An episode might change week to week, depending on a new witness that might come along or a new bit of evidence,” Ryan says.
“There’s no set plan and I don’t have [the episodes] all pre-made. It keeps going until it’s done. Until I feel I’ve looked into everything I can. Watch this space.”
If anyone has information directly related to the Swedish tourist case they should contact police, otherwise email brevitystudiosnz@gmail.com where Wolf says he is happy to be an anonymous contact.
For more information head to theguiltpodcast.com or search Facebook and Instagram.
