Murder Mystery: Tracey Ann Patient

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gzt

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#96481 28-Jan-2012 14:26

"Two years after the murder, police found Tracey's signet ring in a wastepaper basket at an Avondale shopping mall after an anonymous phone tip. The informant quoted the number 126040, but police were unable to trace the caller or decipher the meaning of the number

Tracey was last seen at 9.30pm on January 29, 1976, in Great North Rd outside the old Henderson police station. She said goodbye to her girlfriend and crossed the road to ask an elderly couple what the time was.

Appearing upset that she was late, Tracey ran towards her home 1.6km away. She was found dumped in he Waitakere Ranges"

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10781754

The number could always be bogus and intended to throw off investigators. Even so there are many utility marker post type things with numbers on them. I wonder if it could be pointing to something like that.

Any suggestions?

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#574427 28-Jan-2012 15:31

Passport number?

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gzt

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#574506 28-Jan-2012 22:48

Some kind of map or geodetic reference?

gehenna

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#574508 28-Jan-2012 22:57

View Larger Map

gzt

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#574517 28-Jan-2012 23:44

New York? Somehow I don't think that will be the one.

You could assume the number contains reversed east/south map coordinates like 040s 126e. From there let's assume 126 is a typo and that it is 'really' supposed to read 176.

That gives you - 040 South, 176 East - and at least you end up in NZ. Maybe that location could mean something to someone involved in the case, but anyway...

I was thinking more along the lines of the different geodetic position and map reference standards and systems which have been used in NZ over time - http://www.linz.govt.nz/geodetic

If you find something there that relates 126040 to a point in West Auckland somehow, that would start to get interesting.

Debiarbi

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#574788 30-Jan-2012 01:47

The numbers could be a red herring but I don't think they are. Someone suggested to me that they might be a tattoo number; apparently some ex-servicemen had their service number tattooed on their arm after WW2. It was known as the 'dutch done', or something like that.

My family and I have racked our brains over the years, trying to think what the numbers mean. The police have looked at things like phone numbers, bank account details etc but I don't know if they have thought about map co-ordinates; it would be really great if someone could contact them with this idea- or any others that might come up through this forum.

Thanks for taking an interest; these types of forums help to keep my sister's case in the public eye. Maybe if we keep it going for long enough, someone will come forward some day. It's been 36 years today since she was killed but we haven't, and won't, give up hope of getting justice for Tracey.

Skolink

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#574839 30-Jan-2012 09:46

What about a property title? The only one Terraview brings up is in South Auckland, but wasn't issued untill 2004. Actually it's in Tauranga. definitely not related.

kiwitrc

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#574842 30-Jan-2012 09:54

The other thing I though of was a birthdate, with the tipster mixing up the two digits in the middle (60) instead of (06)

Dratsab

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#574864 30-Jan-2012 10:57

For me, there's a few questions whiich instantly spring to mind...
- What was the context in which the numbers were used? (i.e. - what were the words (if any) surrounding the numbers?)
- Could the context relate the numbers to a person or an object?
- How did the informant quote them? (i.e. were the numbers spelt out (one-two-six...), broken down (twelve, sixty, forty) or quoted as a whole (one hundred and twenty six thousand...))

Extending out a little from the military serial number tattoo suggested by Debiarbi, could it have been a holocaust survivors registration number? The last number used was 202499.

Debiarbi

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#574867 30-Jan-2012 11:04

I don't know how the numbers were presented / given. All we were told was that someone rang the police and said that if they wanted to find Tracey's ring they should look in a specific rubbish bin in Avondale. We were asked if the numbers meant anything to us, but we couldn't relate them to anything at the time.

I will ask Murray Free, the Henderson officer who has been working on Tracey's case, if he can give me some more information- and get back to you.

nunasdream

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#574971 30-Jan-2012 15:43

The only thing I found was this.

http://rates.orc.govt.nz/detail.php?u=1318267147&property_id=126040&context=pub

Property ID. Probably has nothing to do with it and nor do I know how far this goes back though.

Debiarbi

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#575151 31-Jan-2012 04:40

I've been given the following info from the police:

On 22 November 1977 a male caller phoned the Henderson Police Station. He said at the time, "Listen, I am not going to give you my name or anything like that. I'll give you information about the PATIENT murder once and once only". He then described the ring being outside in the rubbish bin of the Urgent Dispensary wrapped in purple tissue paper. He further said, "Take this number down : 126040. I will ring back on the 30th".

It doesn't make sense that he would say he was giving the info once only and then that he would call back on 30th. I've emailed the police to ask if he did call back.

vccmzf

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#575154 31-Jan-2012 07:47

Being a westie I wonder if it's a phone number,all west Auckland numbers used to start with eight,an eight 12 number is linked to Piha (these days at least).I wonder if the place the body was found in the Waitakeres was between Henderson and Piha?

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#575218 31-Jan-2012 11:27

A phone number would seem unlikely, if the caller wanted to be contacted they would presumably have left more obvious details, unless it was a payphone number near where the ring was left? IIRC they had unusual numbers though. Did anyone get in touch with Telecom and see if there was any record of that number having been in use? Tracking it down now could be difficult unless you can find a reverse-lookup book of that era which were around in the 80s, not sure about the mid 70s.

@KnightNZ

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#575267 31-Jan-2012 12:19

vccmzf: Being a westie I wonder if it's a phone number,all west Auckland numbers used to start with eight,an eight 12 number is linked to Piha (these days at least).I wonder if the place the body was found in the Waitakeres was between Henderson and Piha?

In the very early 80's all Auckland phone numbers were no more than 6 digits. Some semi-rural areas used only four digits. You could ask a Piha old-timer to check that.

Also note that even though the number 126040 has six digits, no phone number ever started with '1' as far as I am aware. Numbers starting with '1' have always been reserved/used for special services like tolls, faults (120), emergency calls (111), etc.

LookingUp

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#575280 31-Jan-2012 12:47

Hmm - a bible reference?

12th Book is Kings 2
6th Chapter is "An Axhead Floats"
4th Verse is "And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees."

Or, in reverse, maybe even more compelling:

04 Book is "Numbers" - interesting...?
06 Chapter is "The Nazirite"
21 Verse is "This is the law of the Nazirite who vows offerings to the LORD in accordance with their dedication, in addition to whatever else they can afford. They must fulfill the vows they have made, according to the law of the Nazirite."

Now, (cut & paste from Wiki) Rastafari make reference to the nazirite vow taken by Samson. Part of this vow, as adopted by the Rastafari, is to avoid the cutting of one's hair....

If this was Criminal Minds you'd have your answer right there - we'd be looking for a killer Rasta!

[Disclaimer - I'm NOT being serious, but this number clue is rather interesting to play with]

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

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