15646 | i. | Joanne "Joe" Chatfield was born in 1971 in New Zealand. She died on 19 November 1988 at the age of 17 in New Zealand. At age 17 she disappeared presumed dead by law. Joanne Chatfield disappeared on the night of November 18, 1988. Twenty years on, she is yet to be found and a coroner has declared her dead.
Missing Auckland teenager Joanne Chatfield has been officially declared dead - presumed murdered - 20 years after she was last seen alive.
In November last year, police announced a $50,000 reward in the hope it would prompt someone with information on the case to speak up.
But the incentive produced no new leads and officers are no closer to knowing what happened to the 17-year-old, who was last seen walking up Princes St as she left a function at Auckland University just before midnight on November 18, 1988.
Since then, there has been much speculation over what happened to Ms Chatfield, including rumours that she had run away or moved to Australia, but nothing has ever been confirmed.
However, Auckland coroner Murray Jamieson has reviewed the case of Ms Chatfield's disappearance and at a court hearing in the Papakura District Court in October, revealed that he believed Ms Chatfield was murdered.
Dr Jamieson said that he had drawn that conclusion based on the fact that Ms Chatfield had not made contact with friends of family, did not have the economic resources to survive if she moved in New Zealand and because he found no evidence that Ms Chatfield had left New Zealand.
At the inquest, Ms Chatfield's mother Claire Chatfield suggested her daughter had been kidnapped by a cult, but Dr Jamieson said there was also no evidence of that.
In his report into the matter, released to the Herald this month, Dr Jamieson states: "Her mother still faithfully holds the hope that some day her only child may return, and I admire her for that demonstration of her love for Joanne."
Dr Jamieson said Ms Chatfield had died on or after November 19, 1988, but the cause and circumstances of her death remain unknown. My friend Joanne Chatfield disappeared from Auckland in 1988. She has been declared officially dead, but the case remains unsolved.
In 1988, my friend Joanne Chatfield -- an absolutely lovely, friendly girl who was an inspiration to anyone who met her -- disappeared after attending a gig at Auckland University. She was last seen walking up Princes Street, crying.
She has been officially declared dead, yet the case is unsolved, and there appear to be absolutely no leads.
You can see her picture and read more about the case here.
Every time there's a list of unsolved murders or disappearances in New Zealand media, Joanne is never mentioned. Kirsa Jensen, Mona Blades, Amber-Grace Cruickshank, they're all listed. Not Joanne.
The police did not take her disappearance seriously at the time; they considered her just some young punk chick that had run away and would turn up in some squat somewhere. By the time they took the case seriously, the evidence was long cold.
I have written twice to the detective in charge of the case -- Len Leleni -- to ask about its status, and, if it's genuinely cold, to get access to the case files. I knew some of Joanne's friends and associates; I know the lifestyle she lived and I even know at least one piece of information that the police do not, yet I can't even get the detective to return my messages.
I'm not entirely sure why I'm posting here, other than out of frustration with the silence from the police, and to keep Joanne's memory alive. The fact she's never mentioned in any lists of missing New Zealanders is, in my opinion, shameful.
If anyone has any advice as to how to gain access to the case files -- because the police are not ever going to solve this -- I'd appreciate either a comment here or a PM.
Joanne was undoubtedly murdered, and the person who killed her is still at large. Joanne's parents don't even have a body to bury, a gravesite to visit. It's like she never existed. Missing Auckland teenager Joanne Chatfield was a spirited and strong-willed teenager, whose "tough" punk image hid a soft and likeable nature, her former employer says.
In her spare time the Auckland girl, who disappeared almost 19 years ago aged 17, visited an elderly person in a retirement home and was fiercely "anti-McDonalds".
Warwick Jordan, who owns Hard to Find Books in Onehunga where "Joe" was about to begin working full time, told the Herald he was pleased police last Thursday announced a $50,000 reward in relation to the case.
The investigation was always treated as a missing persons inquiry although Mr Jordan maintains she was murdered.
Joe's parents were separated and she lived with her mother Claire. Her father Bruce Chatfield lived in the flat upstairs from the bookstore when his daughter went missing.
Joe was meant to move into the flat the weekend she disappeared.
"She was really excited about it. She was a really neat person," Mr Jordan said.
"I was very fond of her. We had some really good conversations. She'd turn up and she'd have her hair done in a mohawk and bright colours and things. She was really into the punk image but she wasn't a punk in terms of the aggression side of things. She was very much anti-McDonalds, the classic teenage rebellion stuff. She certainly had her opinions on things.
"She had a great sense of humour and I think she loved dressing up to appear rather outrageous, but more for herself than for others. I think she loved being a non-conformist. She was a really decent person, intelligent, with a lot of prospects. A week before she disappeared we had a disagreement because she'd been walking around Auckland city at night on her own and she mentioned it to me.
"She said she had the right to do it - she was a woman and women should be allowed to do those things. I said to her 'I'm allowed to do them too but I wouldn't because it's just not safe'. At the time it was one of those conversations that you have with someone which don't count for anything but afterwards of course, it counted for a lot."
Mr Jordan said he remembered arriving home in November, 1988, to find Mr Chatfield concerned that Joe had not moved in.
"It wasn't like her to not turn up. He was quite worried."
Police were called and the investigation began. Since then theories on what had come of Joe were rife. Mr Jordan and later, Joe's father, travelled to Australia after reports that Joe was seen working in Sydney's red light district, Kings Cross. He found someone matching her description, but it was "definitely" not Joe, Mr Jordan said.
"I don't think she killed herself. I don't think she's disappeared, run away. I'd like to think she's run away ... I believe she was murdered.
"I have seen the suffering from Bruce's perspective, let alone her Mum's, which must have been worse. I don't believe she was the sort of person who could just stand back and go 'too bad about them'."
The worst part of knowing someone who had gone missing were the unanswered questions.
"It's bugged the shit out of me for 20 years."
The Mangere-based officer in charge of Operation Chatfield, Detective Sergeant Len Leleni, said police had received about five calls since the reward was offered but none had offered new information.
Mr Leleni said he believed Joe had been murdered and that someone had information which could help police.
Joe was last seen on Princes St after leaving a concert at Auckland University on November 19, 1988. "I'm sure that someone has interrupted her travelling on the way home," Mr Leleni said. The reward for information that closes the case, is on offer until February.
Anyone with information is asked to call their nearest police station.
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