The body of 42-year-old mother-of-three Kim Richmond was found in her ute, submerged in Lake Arapuni 11 months after she vanished. Photo / Supplied
The body of 42-year-old mother-of-three Kim Richmond was found in her ute, submerged in Lake Arapuni 11 months after she vanished. Photo / Supplied
The ashes of Kim Richmond, whom police allege was murdered by her partner, will be interred in a private ceremony on Monday to mark the one-year anniversary since she disappeared.
The 42-year-old mother-of-three was found in her ute, submerged in Lake Arapuni on June 16, 11 months after she vanished from the Arohena farm she ran with partner Cory Jefferies after a social evening at the local hall.
Just days after Richmond's Ford Ranger ute was pulled from the lake with her remains inside, police arrested Jefferies and charged him with murder.
Kim Richmond's infectious smile is missed everyday by her family. Photo / Supplied.
On the day of Kim's funeral, Jefferies, 45, stood in the dock in the Hamilton District Court, charged with her murder.
Kim's parents, Raywynne and Matt Richmond, said the interment at a Te Puke cemetery on Monday will only involve immediate family including her two sisters and three children.
They want Kim to be laid to rest in her home town, where she is surrounded by people who knew and loved her.
Raywynne told the Herald on Sunday the ceremony will be private, a time for the family to reflect and say their final goodbyes.
"We never ever imagined this. It's just heart-wrenching."
Kim Richmond's parents are taking care of her children after their father and her partner Cory Jefferies, was arrested and charged with the 42-year-old's murder. Photo / Facebook.
The Richmonds were shocked when they learned police would charge Jefferies with their daughter's murder.
Jefferies was arrested outside the funeral home in Te Awamutu where Kim's body lay.
Raywynne and Matt were with Jefferies and his three children as they went to sit with Kim's body.
"We were just going down there as a family to spend some time with her and for the children to write on Mummy's coffin," Raywynne said.
"And all the police were there, both ends of the footpath and arrested him there and then. So we went inside with the kids crying."
Raywynne and Matt have moved from Te Puke to take up care of the children, renting a cottage in Arohena at their grandchildren's request so they can remain in the tiny farming community.
The couple, in their 70s, said although their lives are in limbo while they wait for Jefferies' trial, they have settled the children as best they could, keeping them at the same schools, playing the same sports and providing a normal routine.
Raywynne said they have been upfront and honest with the children.
"We sat them down and we said, 'Well, Dad's been arrested and he has been charged with the murder of Mum.' And we said to them, 'But you are innocent until proven guilty. Do you understand what that means?' And they said yes."
Raywynne has spent a year protecting the children - two boys aged 14 and 12, and a 9-year-old girl, from the horror of their mother's disappearance.
The arrest is a double blow for the kids who have not seen their father since. Jefferies is currently on bail at another address outside the district.
Raywynne said she had made sure the children knew they could speak to her and Matt any time about their feelings and they also had a children's lawyer they could talk to if they needed.
Raywynne Richmond pictured with her daughter Kim Richmond on her 40th birthday. The family will inter Kim's ashes tomorrow on the one-year anniversary of her disappearance. Photo / Alan Gibson
The Richmonds do not know anything of the police case against Jefferies.
"We don't even know how Kim died," Raywynne said. "We're not allowed to know."
After Kim's funeral, where more than 400 family and friends gathered to say farewell, her body was cremated.
But a week later police rang to inform the family they had found further remains in the ute. "We've just had shock after shock."
The Richmonds, who quit their jobs to move to Arohena, between Te Awamutu and Putaruru, were ordered out of the farm two days after the funeral and lawyer's bills are beginning to mount up.
But the greatest pain comes from living without Kim, whom Raywynne said always had a smile on her face.
"Kim and I were very close and talked about everything. She used to say, 'Mum you're the fly on the wall.'
"We have Kim's ashes with us. We say goodnight and good morning to her every day. There's not a day goes by that we don't have a little cry."
Meanwhile, Richmond's sister Tracey Richmond has set up a Givealittle page to "help support Kim Richmond's family and children after her life was sadly and very tragically taken".
"Please help support Kim Richmond's family and children after her life was sadly and very tragically taken," the fundraiser page reads.
