259: The Killing of Kirsty Bentley | New Zealand
Evidence Locker True Crime
Evidence Locker True Crime
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 May 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On New Year's Eve 1998, fifteen-year-old Kirsty Bentley vanished while walking her Labrador, Abby, near the Ashburton River in Canterbury, New Zealand. Seventeen days later, her body was found hidden in dense scrub at Camp Gully, Rakaia Gorge, 40 kilometres away. She had been killed by a single blow of blunt force trauma to the head. Despite decades of investigation under Operation Kirsty, hundreds of suspects interviewed, a 2016 coroner's inquest, and a $100,000 reward offered in 2022, no one has ever been charged. New Zealand's most haunting cold case murder remains unsolved.
Books: Read collections of The Evidence Locker Files, available in print and digital editions.
Follow us on: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok
For more information, visit: Evidence Locker Website
Listen ad-free: Visit our page at Patreon
25% of Evidence Locker Patreon proceeds are donated to support the Doe Network, solving international cold cases. To learn more, visit: https://www.doenetwork.org/
Resources
Web
Wikipedia
New Zealand Police: Hot Spot: Op Kirsty
Articles
Killer Blow: the Kirsty Bentley mystery
New evidence in cold case murder
The curious case of Kirsty Bentley’s murder
DNA could crack open Kirsty Bentley cold case
Kirsty Bentley murder: Police offer $100,000 reward
Kirsty Bentley cold case narrows to 10 suspects
Brother John Bentley speaks on Ashburton cold case
Teen’s killing still unsolved after 18 years (coroner inquest, 2016)
Lawyer sounds warning over $100,000 Kirsty Bentley murder reward
Created & Produced by Sonya Lowe
Narrated by Noel Vinson
Music: "Nordic Medieval" by Marcus Bressler
Background track: Doblado Studios: https://www.youtube.com/c/DobladoStudios
This True Crime Podcast was researched using open-source or archival materials.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hiring isn't just about finding someone willing to take the job. |
| 0:03.5 | You need the right person with a right background who can move your business forward. |
| 0:07.4 | If you want candidates who match what you're looking for, trust Indeed sponsored jobs. |
| 0:12.3 | And listeners of the show will get a 100-pound sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash broadcast. Just go to |
| 0:22.3 | Indeed.com slash broadcast right now and support this show by saying you heard about Indeed on |
| 0:27.6 | this podcast. Indeed.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, do it the right way |
| 0:34.4 | with Indeed. The last day of 1998 dawned hot and bright over Ashburton, |
| 0:40.4 | a mid-Cantiburray town on New Zealand's South Island. The temperature climbed at 34 degrees Celsius. |
| 0:46.9 | Families cooled off in the shallows of the Ashburton River. Holiday traffic hummed along State Highway |
| 0:52.0 | 1. It was, by every outward measure, a perfect New Zealand |
| 0:55.8 | summer's day, the last one that a 15-year-old girl named Kirsty Bentley would ever see. |
| 1:02.5 | At some point in the mid-afternoon, Kirstie leashed up her Black Labrador Cross, Abby, and walked |
| 1:08.5 | out the front door of the family's red brick bungalow at |
| 1:11.2 | 165 South Street. She didn't tell her brother where she was going. She just went. It was a |
| 1:17.5 | familiar routine, the river, the fresh air, the company of her dog. Nothing about it would |
| 1:22.5 | have seemed unusual to anyone watching her walk down Chalmers Avenue toward the water. |
| 1:30.1 | Except that she never came back. |
| 1:35.5 | In the 26 years since Christy Bentley disappeared on New Year's Eve, her case has become one of the most haunting, unsolved murders in New Zealand history. |
| 1:39.8 | Hundreds of people have been interviewed. |
| 1:41.8 | Dozens of suspect have been investigated and cleared. |
| 1:45.4 | Advances in forensic science have been brought to bear on the evidence, and still, no arrest, |
| 1:51.6 | no conviction. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 14 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Evidence Locker True Crime, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Evidence Locker True Crime and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

