THE KIRSTY BENTLEY CASE

December 31, 1998 10.30am

Kirsty meets a friend at the Ashburton library, before shopping and lunch at McDonald’s.

2.30pm

Arrives home at 165 South St.

3.05pm

Neighbour sees her walk past his house with the family dog Abby.

5.15pm

Mother Jill comes home from work. Son John says his sister hasn’t returned from walking the dog. She has a quick look down at the river. 6pm

Father Sid comes home and police are informed. Family, friends and police search with no success.

January 1, 1999 8am

Official search and rescue operation begins.

10am

Abby is found tied to a tree in dense foliage beside the Ashburton River, close to Robilliard Park. Kirsty’s underwear and boxer shorts found nearby.

January 17, 1999

Two men find Kirsty’s body at Camp Gully, in the Rakaia Gorge.

January 25, 1999

Hundreds of mourners farewell Kirsty at St Stephen’s Anglican Church in Ashburton.

June 2015

Sid dies, aged 64. Both he and John were treated as suspects. They denied any involvement.

July 2016

Coroner concludes Kirsty died from a massive blow to the back of her head at an unknown location, “likely to be in the Ashburton or Rakaia areas” on the day she went missing by “person or persons unknown”.

March 2017

Police confirm double Work and Income killer Russell Tully is being look at as a suspect. He was ruled out in May this year.

December 2018

Police say that advances in DNA technology have led to new tests being done to try to trace the killer.