Cold Case to reveal new information in disappearance of Jessica Boyce
Thursday, 7 March 2024
- Jessica Boyce, 27, was last seen on March 19, 2019, near Renwick, Marlborough.
Police have new information that will be revealed in an episode of Cold Case.
On the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, there is hope her case may be solved.
Jessica Boyce vanished from Renwick in Marlborough on March 19, 2019.
Seven months later, police deemed Jessica’s disappearance a homicide. Since then, her family have been desperately waiting for answers.
But as the fifth anniversary of her disappearance looms, there is fresh hope her case may be solved.
Police have new information that will be publicly revealed for the first time in a special episode of Cold Case.
Cold Case producer Sarah-Luise Whatford says a one-off episode like this is a first for the popular local series that delves into unsolved investigations. Further episodes of Cold Case will screen later in the year but Jessica Boyce’s episode will stand alone.
“And that is because of the urgency around the new information and the timing of her anniversary,” says Whatford.
“Jessica was only 27 years old. She was so young and her family deserve to have some answers. They deserve to have some peace.
“So the more people that watch, the more chance there is for police to get those answers for the family.
“This is a really, really fascinating case for lots of reasons. And there is a very real chance that police are going to be able to close this case.”
In the years since Jessica’s disappearance, there has been much speculation about what happened to her.
She was last seen in a red ute which was located three days later near Lake Chalice in Mount Richmond Forest Park. Police have said they believe the ute was deliberately left to mislead the investigation.
In February of this year, police began a new search for evidence in Canvastown, between Blenheim and Nelson.
Whatford says police step through all aspects of Operation Largo in the episode, including their recent investigations. She says the episode is also an opportunity to dispel some of the misinformation that has been spread about Jessica’s case.
“They do address the fact that rumours started almost the day they were alerted to her disappearance. And it’s taken them a lot of time to work through ‘What is fact?’ ‘What’s speculation and what’s rumours?’.
“A lot of the information they received would be second or third hand so it’s taken them five years to really get to a definitive timeline of what they believe happened.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Ciaran Sloan, who leads Operation Largo, has previously indicated that the police have strong leads stating, “The investigation team know they are interviewing the right people”.
So people may be wondering why no arrests have yet been made.
Whatford says the reasons behind that become really clear in the episode and that the police have left “no stone unturned”.
“A lot of people in the community have been deeply impacted by Jess, and the fact that there appears to be no answers.
“And so I think a lot of people will take comfort – in a strange way – of knowing that the police investigation has been so thorough.”
But police still need the public’s assistance and Whatford says there are many ways people can help.
“There’ll be people that don’t know that they perhaps saw something or know something. And they might not connect the dots until they watch the episode.”
Whatford says that all Cold Case episodes are only made with the approval of the subject’s family and Jessica’s story is no different.
“We’ve got the full blessing of her wider whānau and her mum has given us a really beautiful interview.
“We’re very, very grateful to her mother for doing that.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Sloan has been working on Operation Largo since the beginning and Whatford says he and his team are heavily invested in cracking Jessica’s case.
“He makes a really nice point of saying in the episode why it’s so important to him.”
It’s important to Whatford and the Cold Case team too.
“I feel it deeply and nothing would bring me more pride than knowing that we’ve helped in some small way to enable police to progress this case. The police motto is that it’s never too late to solve a cold case. And they’re right.
“I know that a lot of cases have also been progressed, they have received new leads as a result of the broadcast or witnesses that they weren’t previously aware of, for example, have come forward because of something they’ve seen on Cold Case. So if we can do that again with this episode I’ll consider that a massive success.”
Cold Case, TVNZ 1, Tuesday March 19