The mystery of a 49-year-old cold-case has been partially solved with a Coroner declaring a man dead today, although there still remains a number of unanswered questions.
Baker Graeme Timlin, who was 19, disappeared from his Hamilton bakery on 15 May 1965. A few days later, his van was found at Mount Maunganui and a body seen near Kawau Island a few weeks later. The man who spotted it later identified it with a photo of Mr Timlin.
Graeme Timlin disappeared in May 1965. Photo: SUPPLIED
In 1977, a Coroner found that Mr Timlin was missing presumed dead, but a death certificate was never issued. At an inquest today, Coroner Gordon Matenga said he is satisfied that Mr Timlin is dead and that the body seen by the fisher was that of Mr Timlin's.
"There are so many possibilities, for example he could have been driven there (Mount Maunganui) or forced against his will to do something which lead to his death or he could have decided for himself that his business was in such a dire straits that he didn't wish to continue but all of this is simply conjecture. There is insufficient evidence to support one view above another," Mr Matenga said.
Scott Bainbridge, speaking on behalf of Mr Timlin's 88-year-old mother, Ursula Purchase, said the family accepts Mr Matenga's ruling.
Mr Bainbridge has researched and written about many missing person cases in New Zealand, including a chapter on Graeme Timlin. He believes the disappearance wasn't handled well by police at the time, including not relaying information on the investigation to Mr Timlin's mother.
"That ws the way things were done back then and I think we accept that. If Graeme had disappeared today or yesterday, then it would be very very different as well."
Mr Bainbridge said the unanswered questions include how did Mr Timlin come to be in Mount Maunganui and Kawau Island.
He said it was claimed that Mr Timlin was a the Mount to skin-dive, but his family had no knowledge that he was a skin diver. Cigarette packs found in his van were also out of the ordinary, as Mr Timlin didn't smoke.
Police evidence from the time suggested he was in a relationship with a fellow worker who reported him missing, but the family denies this.
Mr Bainbridge said the fact the woman and her father were the one's who found the van at the Mount is also highly irregular.
He said the Timlin case is one of the few where he really has no idea what has happened.
