On October 20, 1992 Judy Yorke waved goodbye to her daughter for the last time. She went to a party and was never seen again. Her body has never been found and no one has ever been charged in relation to her death, but her daughter, family and the detective
Thirty-year cold case: What happened to young Te Puke mum Judy Yorke?
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Collin, a retired police detective who originally headed the case, is vowing to keep fighting with his last breath to find Judy.
Judy, 25, had been missing for 14 days when Collin was first called to head the search.
He immediately launched a homicide inquiry.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Two weeks earlier, Judy had dropped her 3-year-old daughter Shannel at her parents Jane and William Yorke's Te Puke home, telling them she was heading into Mount Maunganui for some drinks and expected to return the next day.
She met others at a pub, and about 11pm, she and five others went to a party at a Matapihi orchard property in her 1979 white Honda Accord.
About 30 others attended the party and the last reported sighting of Judy was in a packing shed sometime between 1am and 2.30am on October 21, 1992.
She was wearing black pants and a top, and distinctive buckled shoes.
Her muddied black shoes were found in the 3.35ha orchard, now a housing estate, two days after she vanished.
Her car was driven back to her house by one of her companions after they couldn't find her. It was found parked outside her home and the car keys were found inside the toilet.
Alarm bells were raised for her sister Tira Yorke when Judy didn't call, as she usually did daily. She also didn't go to her daughter's fourth birthday on October 28.
Tira Yorke told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, for the anniversary of her sister's disappearance, she and her mother went to the police but were told because Judy was an adult they would have to wait two weeks before launching an inquiry.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
During those two weeks, they searched for Judy themselves.
"We did anything we could to try and help us find Judy, and we searched everywhere we could think of, including my mother searching drains."
Yorke and Collin, a former Detective Inspector, and the original officer in charge (OIC) of the homicide inquiry spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend for the anniversary of Judy's disappearance.
As did Judy's now 34-year-old daughter.
Thirty years later, Collin is still desperate for answers.
"It's my utmost wish to be able to return Judy to her family so they can lay her to rest alongside her mum Jane in the family urupa.
"In every major investigation, you always have some personal involvement, but mine has been even more personal because of my involvement with Jane and Willie (Yorke).
"From the first time I met them I just knew they were extraordinary people.
"Jane was a bloody amazing woman and to me, she deserved to know what happened to her daughter.
"And now I can't tell her, the next step is to bring her [Judy] home and give her to mum. So it is really personal and I would love to be able to do that for the Yorke family."
After Judy's disappearance, about 50 to 60 people helped search for her including 33 police investigators working on the inquiry and search and rescue personnel.
Collin said over the years he has reflected back on the investigation many times and asked himself "did we miss something that was obvious?".
"As the officer-in-charge of the investigation, the responsibility lies with me, so to me I have failed the Yorke family and I can't get away from that."
Collin said one school of thought in this case was that there were a number of people involved.
Collin said he and the police and the Yorke family were convinced solving the mystery lay with partygoers that night.
"We can't search if we don't have any evidence or an area to go to where Judy is buried.
"If we haven't found her by the time I'm on my deathbed, no doubt Judy will still be on my mind."
The decades-long homicide inquiry has drawn blanks but police still follow tip-offs from time to time.
In 1993, earthmoving equipment and a small ground-penetrating radar were used to search the then-Matapihi orchard but nothing of interest was found.
Collin said a "very thorough" search of the Matapihi peninsula was undertaken, including using a police helicopter with heat-sensing equipment and extensive forensic tests.
Partygoers were also interviewed.
Police re-examined the case in 2008 and 2012 but did not re-interview witnesses.
The case has also featured on television including Crime Watch and Sensing Murder.
Collin believes what needs to happen now is for someone to come forward.
"In 1992 there was no CCTV, and we never actually had a crime scene. And we don't have any old DNA to compare to anyone at the moment.
"All that remains from her disappearance is Judy's shoes. And her car was subjected to a very detailed forensic examination and Judy kept the car very clean, nothing else was found," he said.
"I would be willing to meet with anyone, anywhere, any time if they want to provide me with the information anonymously about where Judy's body is.
''If people are worried about the implications of talking to me, I don't have to go to the police. My principal focus is getting Judy back to her family."
Tira Yorke, one of Judy's two younger sisters, said she had always believed her sister had been murdered.
Yorke, 54, said the pair usually had daily phone calls.
"Judy was really close to me, we were best friends as well as sisters. She used to ring me every morning. I knew something was wrong with her when she didn't."
Yorke last saw Judy when they shared cakes to celebrate her sister Mina's birthday.
"We had a cup of tea and cake and all sat on mum's steps having a family yarn like we usually did."
The day Judy went missing, Yorke, who now lives in Paengaroa, woke up to rain in the middle of the night.
"I told my husband 'I think there is something wrong with Judy', but he told me to go back to sleep."
She found out later that her 71-year-old father also woke up about the same time and told her mother he could hear Judy yelling out.
"Thirty years later I remember vividly that I just got this really bad feeling about her."
When they later went to Judy's house they found it a mess.
"That wasn't Judy at all. She was really fussy and her house was always spotless."
Yorke echoed the hope someone would come forward with information.
"It would be good if the police could find her, at least we could bring her home and put Judy to rest with mum.''
Judy's mother Jane died age 66 in January 2016 not knowing what had happened.
Her father William still waits for answers.
"I always told my children and my nieces, that if Judy was here they would have really loved their aunt. She was a loving aunt and sister," Yorke said.
Collin said he felt he could have done more to solve the cold case but Yorke tells him "you can't blame yourself".
Judy was born in Tauranga on June 9, 1967 and lived with her daughter Shannel around the corner from her parents, who were raising her 7-year-old son Joseph.
Shannel lives in Auckland. She turns 34 on October 28, and hopes to one day have answers.
She is in her final weeks of a Bachelor of Oral Health Sciences at AUT and a mother to 6-year-old daughter Gospel.
She said it was hard to explain how she felt about her mother's death.
"Of course, I loved my mother but because I was so young I didn't have an emotional connection with her.
''You cannot really miss someone you don't really know or struggle to remember, which makes me feel bad to say that.
"I do have little flashbacks from time to time. I vividly remember sitting on my nan's lap wrapped up in an itchy woollen blanket and Mum waved goodbye. I never saw her again.
"No one told me my mother wasn't coming back or believed she was dead until I was much older. I assumed that was to try and protect me from the trauma of what happened.
"I'm not sure whether there is a lingering trauma trapped inside of me yet to come out.
''It's very sad. I know my grandmother struggled forever and never really got over my mum's death."
Shannel hopes her own daughter could in the future acknowledge her own grief and pain, whatever may come.
"I don't want it to be a taboo subject.
"Gospel knows my mother is dead and when she is older and starts to ask more questions I will try my best to explain what happened."
Tragedy has struck the Yorke twice, Shannel's fiance and Gospel's dad Kieron Lang, a concrete layer, was killed in a car crash in September 2017 on his way home from work.
"Kieron was the best dad and the love of my life," she said.
Shannel hopes people with information will "do the right thing".
"I can't understand how they can live with themselves knowing what they know and not speaking up about it to the police.
"It would be really nice to be able to lay mum's remains at our family urupa in Te Puke, and to finally have closure," she said.
Bay of Plenty Detective Senior Sergeant John Wilson is now looking after Judy's case.
Wilson said police were still treating the inquiry as an unsolved homicide and would act on tip-offs.
"Police regularly receive information and tips about open investigations, even when they've been open for a long time.
"As with any case, we're not in a position to discuss what information has been disclosed to the police, but we do encourage people to come forward if they have knowledge or information that could help us bring justice for Judith.
"We remain confident that there is someone out there who knows either where Judith is, or what happened to her, and we hope they will eventually be in a position to share that information with us."
For now the agonising wait for the Yorke family and Collin continues.
Anyone with information about the case can contact police via 105 or make a report online at https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105. Information can also be provided anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
