By: BIRIDIANA LOPEZ-RODRIGUEZ
Staff Writer
This is a less known cold case, and there’s not much information on it as well. Colin Michael Goode was a former gardener at Auckland City parks. He lived in his isolated home near Klaris on the Great Barrier Island. On the island he was known as a cannabis grower, and he had very minimal contact to the outside world. On June 30, 1999 his decaying body would be found in his isolated home. He was last seen alive in April of 1999. Colin’s body was lying on a double bed in the master bedroom, and next to him was the remains of his dog that were found beside him. What shocked investigators was that his right hand was missing, and still hasn’t been found to this day. Police were able to find two rifles, a 303 and a 22 in his bedroom. It was quickly determined that gunshot wounds were not his cause of death. Despite comprehensive examinations his cause of death could not be established. Not too long after, police found that Colin had reported that he had been assaulted in his home by armed mongrel mob members demanding 13 kilograms of cannabis that they claimed he had. They have also allegedly robbed 1,240 dollars as well as a kilogram of cannabis. He had reported this in 1991, and it’s unsure if the police looked into it or not. The person who had alerted police about not having seen Colin in a long time was questioned but he was quickly ruled out as a suspect, and he died in 2002 of drug overdose. The case has gone cold and still remains unsolved to this day.