Listen on the go: Four Days investigation, narrated by Kevin Donovan
In this week’s Four Days, we hear the case of a father who killed his 3 year old son with a blowtorch after his wife was killed.
It’s been almost three years since the death of 26-year-old Christina McPherson was reported by a neighbour to the local PTA on February 9th 2012. Christina, a mother of two, was living with her parents in the town of Milton, in the South Island of New Zealand. Christina had grown up in her family home, had been going to school, and was well-loved by her parents, who had taken great care of Christina’s younger sister, who was just 13 years-old at the time.
A week prior to her murder, Christina was having a heated argument with her husband, James McPherson. She refused to let him use the phone, as he had done so for so long, and he was always getting up late in the morning, and not picking up the kids from school. This was their pattern for the month, as James was often late for work and would not allow her to use his phone to call work. Christina got fed up and left for good. She had spent the last half year building a relationship with James, which had progressed to a point where she accepted him.
Over the week beforehand, Christina had become increasingly moody and irritable. On the night she was murdered, Christina had been attending a party and had left the party late, saying she wanted to get home. But around 8pm she returned to the party, saying she was going to make up the time she had missed. She wanted to leave and go home, but James told her that she could not. He asked her if she was alright, went home, and went to bed, and at some point, Christina’s friend’s father was found dead in his home. Christina left the party and went to her parents’ home, to let them know of her father’s death. Christina got a call from her parents around 11pm saying she had left a note in the kitchen. She said she would return to the party.
As her parents slept, Christina returned with her friend, who