Brian Schlaepfer stabbed his wife to death before going on a shooting rampage in which he killed six other members of his family. Photo / NZME
Brian Schlaepfer stabbed his wife to death before going on a shooting rampage in which he killed six other members of his family. Photo / NZME
The elder of two surviving sisters of a massacre that took the lives of three generations of a rural South Auckland family almost 31 years ago has died.
Kerry Schlaepfer, 45, died in her sleep on Tuesday, according to a family notice published in the Weekend Herald today.
Kerry and her then 9-year-old sister Linda were the only survivors in their immediate family after their grandfather Brian Schlaepfer either shot or stabbed six relatives on the family property, in Paerata’s Ostrich Farm Rd, on May 20, 1992. He then took his own life.
The graves of the Schlaepfer family at Paerata. Photo / NZ Herald
Kerry, then aged 14, was away at the time, but Linda survived after picking up the phone her mother Hazel had dropped, after being shot as she called 111 for help.
Linda would spend three hours barricaded in a bedroom, scared but calm as she spoke on the phone to Constable Jeff Stuck, before police could secure the scene and come to her rescue.
A relative told the Weekend Herald today the family didn’t immediately want to comment on Kerry’s death.
A mum-of-one, she is also survived by her partner, according to the family notice.
Her funeral will take place in Pukekohe on Tuesday, with her ashes to be interred at Heights Park Cemetery, where her slain family members are also buried.
Schlaepfer family funeral in 1992. Darrell Schlaepfer one of the murdered (inset). Photo / NZME
Brian Schlaepfer murdered his wife Jocelyn, 55, and their son Karl, 33, in the home they shared before taking the life of his youngest son Darrell, 31, in a tool shed on the property.
Eldest son Peter, 39, and his wife Hazel, 42 - Kerry and Linda’s parents - and their son Aaron, 11, were then shot or stabbed by the 64-year-old, who had suffered from depression before the murders but had refused help.
The alarm was raised when Hazel called 111, Linda taking over the call after her mother was shot dead as Constable Stuck listened helplessly in the Auckland Central police station.
Police at the Schlaepfer family farm in Paerata. Photo / NZME
The scene at Ostrich Farm Rd, near Paerata, South Auckland. Photo / NZME
There was a two-minute silence between the gunshot and hearing Linda’s voice.
Only moments earlier, she had listened to Aaron plead for his life before hearing the gunshot that killed him.
“My granddad ... he’s shot my brother”, she said to Stuck.
