Ariki Rigby murder: Family and police’s ongoing search for justice two years on from brutal killing

• Two years on from Ariki Rigby’s murder, her killers still haven’t been caught.
• Police confirm they apologised to her family for the initial mistake of thinking remains in a burned-out car were those of an animal.
• Her family is planning a private event to mark what would have been Ariki’s 21st birthday.

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of teenager Ariki Rigby’s brutal murder in Hawke’s Bay. Neil Reid spoke to her sister and police ahead of the anniversary, as her killers remain at large.

Anaherā Rigby’s heart breaks when she thinks about what her slain sister could have become.

Teenager Ariki Rigby was murdered in September 2022, about four weeks short of what would have been her 19th birthday.

Her badly beaten and burned body – which her sister says had its hands and feet cut off – was discovered in a burned-out car in the carpark of a popular Hawke’s Bay reserve.

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Ariki’s death. It’s been a 24-month period where her loved ones have battled deep grief as well as the understandable frustration that no one has yet been held to account for her killing, described by her cousin and pastor Michael Ngahuka as a “heinous crime”.

Speaking on the eve of the anniversary, sister Anaherā said it had also been a period of soul-searching about what her sister could have done with her life.

“She would have been travelling. She would be a woman by now,” she told the Herald.

“She was only 18 when they took her from us. But she was already very strong, all she needed was some right guidance to help her mature.

“She was amazing, very independent. Her dreams were to travel and within these two years she would have accomplished that.

Anaherā Rigby speaks during her younger sister's funeral which was attended by about 700 people. Photo / Warren Buckland

“Hopefully, she would have given us a child [in her life]. She wanted to be a mum, she was always good with children and wanted to have a family.”

Born and bred in Hawke’s Bay, Ariki had moved to Auckland where her sister and their mum live.

She died during a holiday to see family and friends in Hawke’s Bay.

Tributes in the days after her death described her as being determined, fiercely independent and entertaining.

They also spoke of how she had endured troubles in her teens but, now living in Auckland, she had secured a job in a central city bar and found an apartment in the CBD.

Clips were recirculated on social media of Ariki entertaining with songs, raps and dances.

Just weeks before her death she had posted online about her musical dream and that she was working towards recording an album of raps and songs.

“I’m actually real good with flows bars... I’ll give it a real good go studios and all,” Ariki wrote.

She posted how a room in her mother’s house was going to be transformed into a studio. Her future album had a working title of “Hustlaaa”.

The Legacy women empowerment T-shirt Anaherā Rigby, pictured along with cousin Michael Ngahuka, is wearing was placed in homicide victim Ariki Rigby's coffin before she was buried.

“It be raps/songs about anything... help me with topics and stuff but yeah hopefully I get big bucks one day... only goal is to get rich SLEEPING.”

She had also been considering a move across the Tasman prior to going on what turned out to be a fateful trip back to Hawke’s Bay.

That included living with a Brisbane-based cousin to start a “new life”, with the heartbroken relative Juliana Fitzgerald later telling the Herald she had urged her not to go to Hawke’s Bay.

‘Get us all together to try and spread the love’

The Rigby family has endured two Christmases without Ariki.

September 30 will also be a poignant day; a day that would have been her 21st birthday.

Previous birthdays have seen the loved ones gather at the spot where Ariki’s body was found.

This year her life will be celebrated at an invite-only event at a private location.

Flowers, cards and balloons were placed at the site Ariki Rigby's remains were found on what would have been her 19th birthday. Photo / Neil Reid

Anaherā has been fundraising for the event, which will be held at a secret venue – with invites given out personally by family members.

“We are all grieving... we are all just trying to avoid any drama,” Anaherā said of the secrecy.

Anaherā said she realised some families don’t celebrate the birthdays of lost loved ones.

But there were several reasons for wanting to mark her younger sister’s 21st.

That included trying to fix “the grief within the family and all of Ariki’s loved ones”.

She said it was important to fully involve Ariki’s real friends who at times hadn’t been able to share their grief with her family.

“Over two years, everyone has been focused on the family,” Anaherā said. “We were in our own grief, we couldn’t even really help or see that it was affecting other people too.

Anaherā Rigby during an emotional visit to the site where the badly beaten and burned body of her 19-year-old sister Ariki Rigby was found in a carpark in rural Hawke's Bay. Photo / Neil Reid

“Her friends maybe felt like they couldn’t come to our family to share what they were going through because we were going through so much.

“So, I am trying to get us all together to try and spread the love. I want to do something different this year, instead of focusing on the bad stuff.”

She added at times it felt like the past two years had “flown by”, partly due to her involvement in a range of different initiatives.

That included being involved in Unite as One, Unite for All – a group pushing for harsher sentences for killers, including mandatory non-release life sentences for murderers – as well as her trying to secure a permanent memorial for Ariki.

The ‘heinous crime’ that must ‘weigh on the soul’

Ariki’s killing - and the fact no one has been charged – continues to send shockwaves through Hawke’s Bay.

She was found in a burnt-out car at the River Road Recreational Reserve on the outskirts of Havelock North.

The car – a mid-90s dark grey Toyota Corona – was driven to the remote park between 10pm on Friday, September 2, 2022, and 7am on Saturday, September 3, and set alight.

Police cordoned off the River Road Recreational Reserve once they realised the remains in the burned-out car were human. Photo / Neil Reid

Police were notified of the torched wreck by locals who live near the reserve on the morning of September 3.

But in a mistake unfathomable to Rigby’s family, the officers who went to the scene mistook the charred body remains for those of a sheep.

A tow truck was booked to take the car wreck to a crushers yard for September 5.

But on the day the truck was set to pick up the car, police were urged to return to the scene by Hastings-based dog-walker Kevin Monrad.

Ariki Rigby's loss has devastated her loved ones, who remember her as being independent, strong and keen to travel.

After examining the wreck – and seeing the charred body inside had shoulder-length hair and was wearing a necklace – Monrad rang police on the morning of September 5 and said he had discovered human remains.

“They sent someone down,” Monrad later told the Herald. “They waltzed on down [to the carpark] and it was like, ‘We have already heard about it. It is a sheep.’”

“I lost it, I had already exposed her face, and said, ‘Does a sheep have shoulder-length hair? Does a sheep wear a necklace?’. That is when the two officers went and had a look and asked me to stand back.”

Police hunt for evidence three days after they were first notified of a burnt-out car at River Road Recreational Reserve. Photo / Neil Reid

That day police launched an “unexplained death” investigation before it was upgraded to a homicide on September 9, 2022.

If it wasn’t for Monrad’s urging, Ariki’s body would never have been discovered before the car was sent to the crushing yard and the Rigby family would never have been able to say farewell to the much-loved teen.

Ngahuka later described his cousin’s death to the Herald as a “heinous crime” which he believed “has to weigh on the soul, it has to weigh on your heart” of those responsible and those who know the truth.

He has been among family members urging anyone with information to come forward.

“At the end of the day, this has happened in our community and they need to make a decision... will they be a part of [what happened]?” Ngahuka said.

“If you know something or someone, and you know they were involved and you don’t bring any justice to that or share anything, you are a part of it, in a sense.

“I don’t know how people can live with themselves like that... it has to weigh on the soul, it has to weigh on your heart. This heinous crime and act has happened. We just want justice.”

Anaherā has previously told the Herald she believed several gang-affiliated people were responsible for the killing. She believed “jealousy and drugs” were the motive.

She has also previously gone public saying Ariki’s killers chopped off her hands and feet before putting her body in the car and setting it alight.

Ahead of the second anniversary, Anaherā told the Herald she had no further information she could share on the case.

Family of Ariki Rigby placed flyers in shops around Hastings and Flaxmere appealing for information. Photo / Neil Reid

But she said it was “frustrating” that those responsible were still free in the community.

“The world knows the police haven’t solved her case yet, there are no arrests,” she said.

“I do always have people asking me questions about that, but I have no answers for why the police can solve everyone else’s murders but not my sister’s. I don’t think any of my family have an answer for that.

“The police do wish they could solve the case, but it is more complicated than what people think.”

Police say they’re exploring ‘all investigative avenues available to us’

The fact Ariki’s killers have yet to face justice has not been through a lack of trying.

Police have previously spoken of how they believed people who knew exactly what happened were keeping quiet due to “loyalties”.

Those people have repeatedly been urged by police to “do the right thing and come forward”.

A team of officers – headed by Detective Senior Sergeant James Keene – has repeatedly canvassed the community seeking information.

Police officers scour bush at the River Road Recreational Reserve. Photo / Neil Reid

Talking to the Herald, Keene spoke of the desire within police to catch those responsible.

“Two years on from the death of Ariki Rigby, police continue to explore all investigative avenues available to us,” Keene said.

“Over our investigation, hundreds of people have been spoken to, and a significant amount of information has been received. Our investigation team work hard to verify credible information that is relevant to our investigation.”

On the eve of the second anniversary of Ariki’s murder, Keene made a fresh appeal to anyone with information to contact police or, anonymously, Crimestoppers.

Police are set to make a further statement on the investigation tomorrow, including a video message to be published on the Herald website.

A police officer talks to a dog walker at the River Road Recreational Reserve a week after Ariki Rigby's body was found. Photo / Neil Reid

Meanwhile, Keene confirmed police had issued an apology to the Rigby family.

“The family received an apology from police following the initial misidentification of the remains,” he said.

“Police have since remained in frequent communication with the family spokesperson, who police speak with often to provide investigation updates.”

A beautiful spot, marked by unbelievable grief

Visit the River Rd Recreational Reserve – located near some of Hawke’s Bay’s most-loved vineyards – any day of the week and you will encounter people who find nothing but joy at the scenic spot.

Young mums push their toddlers around the shingle walkways in strollers, bike-riders of all ages take advantage of the cycling tracks, and groups of elderly walkers are also a common sight.

Shirts were sold with funds raised to contribute towards teen homicide victim Ariki Rigby's headstone, unveiling and permanent memorial.

A short walk through some bush takes you down to the stone and pebble-covered banks of the Tukituki River which flows from the Ruahine Range out to the Pacific Ocean.

The banks of the river, and the grass fields in the reserve, are hugely popular picnicking sites.

And one of the first sights visitors driving into the reserve’s carpark see is a memorial set up by Ariki’s family and friends.

Anaherā Rigby at the temporary memorial to her slain sister. Photo / Neil Reid

It features trinkets, solar lights, garden ornaments and the personalised number plate, ARIKI.

Auckland-based Anaherā visits and tidies the site whenever she is in Hawke’s Bay.

She said it was always “tough” going to the place where her sister’s body was found.

“It is like I feel dead inside coming here... I feel nothing. It is like I am absent of joy coming here,” she said.

“And I don’t like feeling like that, which is the reason why I want to make this place beautiful so we can come back here.”

While Ariki’s memorial means a lot to those who loved her, it hasn’t been welcomed by some locals and visitors to the park.

Anaherā said the Hastings District Council had been contacted by people who wanted it removed.

“But the council said to me that they would never do that to our family, that it was a beautiful memorial to her and hopefully we could do something more permanent.”

Options include a memorial plaque at the site, a tree planted in her memory, or the erection of a park bench featuring a plaque with Ariki’s name.

Anyone with information that could help police is asked to contact them via 105, referencing file number 220905/1265.

Information can also be provided anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.