The family of Tracey Patient have asked Police to provide the following statement on their behalf;
"We have been overwhelmed by the level of support that people in New Zealand have shown for Tracey's case since the Police media campaign started. It is amazing, but very reassuring, that so many people remember what happened to Tracey and, more importantly, still care. We really do appreciate this and would like to publicly thank everyone who has viewed and shared the video, and posted comments on the Police Facebook pages.
We have heard some heart-breaking stories of how Tracey's murder affected not just her friends, but also people who had never even met her. The person who murdered Tracey did more than take one child's life and shatter one family; they took away the freedom, and altered the childhoods, of a whole community.
We have every confidence in the Police team who are working on the case and feel sure that, with the public's help, they have a very good chance of solving the case and bringing Tracey's murderer to justice."
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Operation Tracey Update from Detective Inspector John Sutton;
The Operation Tracey 0800 number has now received around 165 calls since Police released a public appeal on Thursday 28 January.
Around 70 of these calls have been suggestions as to what the ‘126040’ number could relate to.
The remaining calls have been from people nominating suspects or providing information relating to the case.
A number of people have said that this is the first time they have made contact with the Police to provide information, and that they have thought about the case for forty years.
We are extremely pleased with the public response and we know that Tracey’s family have taken comfort from knowing that Tracey’s death has not been forgotten by the community.
The investigation team is now working through the information provided, assessing and prioritising the number of enquiries which the public response has generated.
We continue to appeal to anyone with information to call the Operation Tracey hotline on 0800 000 111.
ENDS
Beth Bates/Waitemata Police
