Son being sought after mother's death was the sole suspect. Police say he is ‘most likely’ dead

Thursday, 14 May 2026

Police believe Jeremy Robertson, sole person of interest in his mother Karen Gilbert-Palmer's Pahīatua murder, died shortly after arriving at Rotorua's Green and Blue Lakes area.

Karen Gilbert-Palmer, 74, was found dead by friend Belinda Cranston in her Arthur Street home in Pahīatua on October 15, 2025.

Jeremy Robertson's abandoned car was discovered near Green and Blue Lakes in Rotorua with no bank account or mobile phone activity detected since.

Police investigating the murder of Karen Gilbert-Palmer in Pahīatua in October 2025, say her son has always been the sole person of interest - and they now believe he is dead.

Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Thompson said on Thursday the officers investigating her murder had completed their enquiries after the 74-year-old was found dead by friends in her Arthur Street home, on October 15.

Karen’s son, Jeremy Robertson, was quickly identified as a person of interest in relation to her death, police said, adding that nobody else was being sought.

Robertson left the Pahīatua area shortly after his mother’s death, travelling by car to the Green and Blue Lakes area in Rotorua.

The car was found abandoned in that area and despite an extensive search of the area, Robertson was not found.

Police found no activity on his bank accounts or mobile phone, and no evidence to suggest he was living rough in the area.

“Given these facts, alongside the passage of time, police can now advise we believe the most likely scenario is that he died shortly after arriving in the Green and Blue Lakes area,” Thompson said.

“Police remain committed to locating Jeremy if at all possible, in order to provide the closure that Karen’s family and loved ones deserve.”

Police say further searching is planned in a smaller, more concentrated section of the Green and Blue Lakes area, utilising specialist search teams and equipment.

‘I miss her so much’

Speaking to Stuff after police released their findings, Belinda Cranston - the friend who found Gilbert-Palmer’s body - said she was relieved to hear the news.

“I just really didn't want to see his face again…I just feel like he didn't have to do this. He really didn't,” she said, adding that she had long believed Robertson had died.

“I knew in my heart of hearts, I feel like she was already telling me that he's gone.'

Gilbert-Palmer was 74 when she was killed but you wouldn’t have guessed it, Cranston told Stuff last year.

“She was as fit as a fiddle, she'd mow her own lawns. She'd always walk with a straight back,” she said this week, six weeks after she found her friend of 10 years lying dead in her own home.

The loss of her kind-hearted friend has been devastating, the grief compounded by the belief that her death could have been prevented and the fear that Robertson may still be out there.

Cranston hadn’t been round to visit her friend at home for a few weeks before that day because her son Robertson had moved back in.

Gilbert-Palmer had been wanting to meet elsewhere as she didn’t want her friend around her son, who had struggled for years with his mental health, and was acting out again, Cranston said.

“I guess she was just frightened for my sake, you know, she didn't know how he'd be.”

Gilbert-Palmer had been to stay with Cranston and her husband, finding a refuge from her son’s problems.

But she had gone back home and was planning to take Robertson to catch a bus to Rotorua.

“She was supposed to come up and see me that morning because she was taking him to the bus station and then coming round to see me. And I knew something was up,” Cranston told Stuff.

She texted and called, then went to Gilbert-Palmer’s home with her husband and a neighbour. They called again and heard the phone ringing inside.

“And we broke in and we found her, and it was horrific,” a tearful Cranston said.

“It's like everybody's forgotten about her, about who she was, what she went through,” she added.

“It doesn’t get easier,” she said, sharing that her grief was mixed with an anger that Gilbert-Palmer’s death could have been avoided.

She cited multiple occasions where authorities could have intervened to keep Gilbert-Palmer’s troubled son away from her and she wanted him found so she could get some answers.

“I'm waiting to get up and say my piece because I was there with her through it all.

“She was like my sister, I’ve lost my right arm.”

Speaking on Friday, Cranston said she was still receiving counselling over the circumstances of her friends’ death, but she had gathered with other friends to remember Karen on Christmas Day, which would have been her 75th birthday.

“We sat in our spa bath because that's where she would have been with us, and we cheered to her 75 years,” Cranston said.

“I miss her so much.”

Police ask anyone who believes they have seen Jeremy, or you have any other information which you have not yet provided to police, to contact them via 105 and quote file number 251015/6286.

Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.