GUILT

Please note Endgame Episodes 1 & 2 were not able to be re-released due to the Supreme Court Take Down Order.

For all details on how to subscribe using Apple or Spotify and support the podcast plus get early release, ad free listening and bonus episodes please visit https://www.theguiltpodcast.com/how-to-subscribe
Throughout this podcast, to protect the safety of witnesses and the integrity of the case names, voices and even genders are changed without notice.

In April of 1989 two Swedish tourists, Heidi Paakkonen and Sven Urban Hoglin disappeared without a trace only days before they were due to leave New Zealand.

Despite no bodies being found, David Wayne Tamihere was convicted of their murders. In October of 1991 Urban’s body was discovered 70km away from where the New Zealand Police said it should be, when it was discovered up a forest road in Parakiwai, near Whangamata.

Yet despite this contradictory new evidence and the eventual discovery that a key witness had committed perjury, David Tamihere was not successful in his appeals and served 21 years before being paroled in 2010.

To this day Tamihere has always maintained his innocence, that he never met the Swedish couple, and he certainly never murdered them.
It was almost three years ago, in December of 2023 that I released the final official episode of Season three of GUILT - Finding Heidi. This episode was the last in what had been an eight month investigation by myself to try and get to the truth, and more importantly to try and find Heidi.

Since the release of that episode my work has not stopped, in fact it has amplified, as I’ve worked with the New Zealand Police to ensure that fresh evidence I’ve uncovered has been actioned appropriately with one final goal in mind, to find Heidi.

Over this series of episodes which I’m calling Finding Heidi - Part Two Endgame, you’re going to hear the story of this year’s work, and how it led to a recent event, which I believe is the most important development in this case in 30 years..

Everything you’re going to hear is new, and has never been heard before.

And by the end, this case will never be the same again.
Guilt is a 100% Independent Podcast. Support the Podcast by becoming a Brevity+ subscriber. For a small monthly or annual fee you can both support the show and get a ton of amazing features, including Early Episode Release, Bonus Episodes, Ad Free Listening and exclusive access to the Guilt Podcast 'War Room' on www.theguiltpodcast.com where you'll find timelines, maps, case files, exclusive episode video content and more!
Subscribe today on Apple or Spotify (Supporting Cast). For details on how to subscribe please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com/how-to-subscribe

If you have information about any of our cases or you would like to suggest a case or a story, please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com and use our contact form to contact us.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/guilt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In March 2003, Sara Niethe drove out to a property at Kaihere, on the Hauraki Plains, and was never seen again. She was 32 years old, a mother of three. Neither she nor her car has ever been found.
Twenty three years later, the man at the centre of it has told four different versions of that day, has served his sentence, and has never said where she is.
In season seven of Guilt, Ryan Wolf takes up the search for Sara Niethe. New episodes coming very soon.

WE NEED YOUR HELP
This season is an active search, and the people who can end it are almost certainly reading this.
We want to hear from you if:

You knew Sara Niethe, or knew Mark Pakenham, or knew anyone around him in 2003
You lived, worked, farmed or hunted around Kaihere, Ngatea, Patetonga or the wider Hauraki and Thames districts in 2003
You saw a light green 1987 Honda Civic hatchback, registration NH4050, in 2003 or at any time since
You know of ground that was dug, filled, drained or built over around that time, or of a digger being used somewhere it had no reason to be
Somebody once told you something about this, and you have carried it since

How to reach us
Website: www.theguiltpodcast.com
Email: brevitystudiosnz@gmail.com
You do not have to give us your name.

THE CASE, IN BRIEF
Sara Niethe was last seen on Sunday 30 March 2003, having driven to a property at Kaihere in the Hauraki district. Her light green 1987 Honda Civic hatchback, registration NH4050, disappeared with her and has never been located.
In 2011, Mark Pakenham was charged with her murder. In February 2013 he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, on the basis that he administered methamphetamine to Sara and that she died. He was sentenced in August 2013 to six years and seven months, and released on parole in 2016. He has never disclosed the location of her body or her car.
Please note: Mark Pakenham was convicted of manslaughter, not murder.

CREDITS
Written and presented by Ryan Wolf and the Brevity Studios Team.
A Brevity Studios production.
Guilt, season seven: Searching for Sara.
Contains references to drug use and the death of a woman. Please take care while listening.
Guilt is a 100% Independent Podcast. Support the Podcast by becoming a Brevity+ subscriber. For a small monthly or annual fee you can both support the show and get a ton of amazing features, including Early Episode Release, Bonus Episodes, Ad Free Listening and exclusive access to the Guilt Podcast 'War Room' on www.theguiltpodcast.com where you'll find timelines, maps, case files, exclusive episode video content and more!
Subscribe today on Apple or Spotify (Supporting Cast). For details on how to subscribe please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com/how-to-subscribe

If you have information about any of our cases or you would like to suggest a case or a story, please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com and use our contact form to contact us.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/guilt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

S3 Finding Heidi Update
Ryan is currently still working on the final two episodes of Finding Heidi Endgame. There are a couple important loose ends that need to be tied up to conclude the season. So this week we're re-introducing The Veil with the Subscriber only special episode - Where is Sara Neithe?
On Sunday 30 March 2003, Sara Niethe drove out of Kerepehi in her mother's light green Honda Civic, stopped at a dairy in Ngatea where a security camera recorded her, and carried on to a house at Kaihere. She was never seen again. Her daughter turned ten the next day, with a table booked at a café. Ten years later Mark Pakenham pleaded guilty to her manslaughter — he had injected her with methamphetamine, a drug she had never used, and watched her die. He was paroled in 2016. Sara has never been found. Neither has the car.

IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING
The car is the most useful thing anyone can help with: a light green 1987 Honda Civic hatchback, registration NH4050, which vanished from the Kaihere / Ngatea / Thames area around 30–31 March 2003 and has never surfaced at a wrecker, been re-registered, or turned up in a drain or a paddock. Investigators believe that wherever the car is, Sara is with it.
Anything else helps too — ground turned over on a farm that autumn, a paddock people were told to keep out of. You do not have to have done anything wrong to know about it.
Bruce Currie, private investigator and former Waikato CIB senior detective, who has worked this case pro bono with Sara's family — 027 844 1349, bruce@mrtracer.co.nz. In confidence.
NZ Police non-emergency: 105.
Crime Stoppers: 0800 555 111 — anonymous.

A NOTE ON SOURCING
Mark Pakenham pleaded guilty to manslaughter in February 2013 and was sentenced in the High Court at Hamilton on 16 August 2013 to six years seven months. He was also convicted of two counts of injuring with intent to injure, relating to two women in Auckland between 1990 and 1992; those appear only because the sentencing judge relied on them in open court. He was paroled on 22 June 2016. This episode does not report on his life since. He later denied the account he pleaded guilty to; the Parole Board said this suggested "a person who is dishonest".
No other person has ever been charged over Sara's death. The episode refers to one man, unnamed, recorded as having been in contact with Pakenham that day, who died in 2018. He was never charged, no court has made any finding about him, and no allegation is made against him.
There was no trial, so no tested evidence and no judgment of fact — only an agreed summary and a sentencing. There is no forensic record: no remains, no post-mortem, no toxicology, no scene examination, no vehicle. Sara's age is reported variously as 30, 31 and 32; we used 31. The view that Pakenham had help disposing of Sara and the car is Bruce Currie's, and is not a finding of any court; police say there is no evidence of it. In October 2024, after an 18-month review, police found no reason to reopen the file.

SOURCES
New Zealand Parole Board, Mark Edward Pakenham, 9 June 2016 — paroleboard.govt.nz
RNZ, "Police appeal for killer to reveal where body is" (2013); "Body still missing as killer released" (2016) — rnz.co.nz
Otago Daily Times (2011, 2013 court reporting) — odt.co.nz
The Valley Profile, Hauraki — the local reporting that carried the 2022–23 searches — valleyprofile.co.nz
Anna Leask, NZME (NZ Herald / Newstalk ZB), 2023–24 case reporting
Mr Tracer (Bruce Currie) case files — mrtracer.co.nz
Waikato Times (2008); NZ Woman's Weekly family interview (2011)

SUPPORT
This episode deals with the killing of a woman, methamphetamine and long-term grief.
NZ: 1737 (call or text) · Alcohol Drug Helpline 0800 787 797 · Family violence 0800 456 450 · Women's Refuge 0800 REFUGE · Victim Support 0800 842 846
AU: Lifeline 13 11 14 · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
Guilt is a 100% Independent Podcast. Support the Podcast by becoming a Brevity+ subscriber. For a small monthly or annual fee you can both support the show and get a ton of amazing features, including Early Episode Release, Bonus Episodes, Ad Free Listening and exclusive access to the Guilt Podcast 'War Room' on www.theguiltpodcast.com where you'll find timelines, maps, case files, exclusive episode video content and more!
Subscribe today on Apple or Spotify (Supporting Cast). For details on how to subscribe please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com/how-to-subscribe

If you have information about any of our cases or you would like to suggest a case or a story, please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com and use our contact form to contact us.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/guilt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please note Endgame Episodes 1 & 2 were not able to be re-released due to the Supreme Court Take Down Order.
For all details on how to subscribe using Apple or Spotify and support the podcast plus get early release, ad free listening and bonus episodes please visit https://www.theguiltpodcast.com/how-to-subscribe

Throughout this podcast, to protect the safety of witnesses and the integrity of the case names, voices and even genders are changed without notice.
In April of 1989 two Swedish tourists, Heidi Paakkonen and Sven Urban Hoglin disappeared without a trace only days before they were due to leave New Zealand.
Despite no bodies being found, David Wayne Tamihere was convicted of their murders. In October of 1991 Urban’s body was discovered 70km away from where the New Zealand Police said it should be, when it was discovered up a forest road in Parakiwai, near Whangamata.
Yet despite this contradictory new evidence and the eventual discovery that a key witness had committed perjury, David Tamihere was not successful in his appeals and served 21 years before being paroled in 2010.
To this day Tamihere has always maintained his innocence, that he never met the Swedish couple, and he certainly never murdered them.
It was almost three years ago, in December of 2023 that I released the final official episode of Season three of GUILT - Finding Heidi. This episode was the last in what had been an eight month investigation by myself to try and get to the truth, and more importantly to try and find Heidi.
Since the release of that episode my work has not stopped, in fact it has amplified, as I’ve worked with the New Zealand Police to ensure that fresh evidence I’ve uncovered has been actioned appropriately with one final goal in mind, to find Heidi.
Over this series of episodes which I’m calling Finding Heidi - Part Two Endgame, you’re going to hear the story of this year’s work, and how it led to a recent event, which I believe is the most important development in this case in 30 years..
Everything you’re going to hear is new, and has never been heard before.
And by the end, this case will never be the same again.
Guilt is a 100% Independent Podcast. Support the Podcast by becoming a Brevity+ subscriber. For a small monthly or annual fee you can both support the show and get a ton of amazing features, including Early Episode Release, Bonus Episodes, Ad Free Listening and exclusive access to the Guilt Podcast 'War Room' on www.theguiltpodcast.com where you'll find timelines, maps, case files, exclusive episode video content and more!
Subscribe today on Apple or Spotify (Supporting Cast). For details on how to subscribe please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com/how-to-subscribe

If you have information about any of our cases or you would like to suggest a case or a story, please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com and use our contact form to contact us.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/guilt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please note Endgame Episodes 1 & 2 were not able to be re-released due to the Supreme Court Take Down Order.
For all details on how to subscribe using Apple or Spotify and support the podcast plus get early release, ad free listening and bonus episodes please visit https://www.theguiltpodcast.com/how-to-subscribe

Throughout this podcast, to protect the safety of witnesses and the integrity of the case names, voices and even genders are changed without notice.
In April of 1989 two Swedish tourists, Heidi Paakkonen and Sven Urban Hoglin disappeared without a trace only days before they were due to leave New Zealand.
Despite no bodies being found, David Wayne Tamihere was convicted of their murders. In October of 1991 Urban’s body was discovered 70km away from where the New Zealand Police said it should be, when it was discovered up a forest road in Parakiwai, near Whangamata.
Yet despite this contradictory new evidence and the eventual discovery that a key witness had committed perjury, David Tamihere was not successful in his appeals and served 21 years before being paroled in 2010.
To this day Tamihere has always maintained his innocence, that he never met the Swedish couple, and he certainly never murdered them.
It was almost three years ago, in December of 2023 that I released the final official episode of Season three of GUILT - Finding Heidi. This episode was the last in what had been an eight month investigation by myself to try and get to the truth, and more importantly to try and find Heidi.
Since the release of that episode my work has not stopped, in fact it has amplified, as I’ve worked with the New Zealand Police to ensure that fresh evidence I’ve uncovered has been actioned appropriately with one final goal in mind, to find Heidi.
Over this series of episodes which I’m calling Finding Heidi - Part Two Endgame, you’re going to hear the story of this year’s work, and how it led to a recent event, which I believe is the most important development in this case in 30 years..
Everything you’re going to hear is new, and has never been heard before.
And by the end, this case will never be the same again.
Guilt is a 100% Independent Podcast. Support the Podcast by becoming a Brevity+ subscriber. For a small monthly or annual fee you can both support the show and get a ton of amazing features, including Early Episode Release, Bonus Episodes, Ad Free Listening and exclusive access to the Guilt Podcast 'War Room' on www.theguiltpodcast.com where you'll find timelines, maps, case files, exclusive episode video content and more!
Subscribe today on Apple or Spotify (Supporting Cast). For details on how to subscribe please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com/how-to-subscribe

If you have information about any of our cases or you would like to suggest a case or a story, please visit our website www.theguiltpodcast.com and use our contact form to contact us.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/guilt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.