DNA detectives’ grisly find ‘WE’RE RELATED BY MURDER!’

The friends-turned-sleuths leave no stone unturned, but one mystery hit close to home

Since meeting 21 years ago while reporting on a Wellington murder trial for rival newspapers, friends Deb Morris and Dr Fran Tyler have turned their love of solving mysteries into a business. Using their investigative skills and a “lifetime of knowing where to look”, the journalists-turned- genealogists have traced hundreds of lost family members, and benefi ciaries of wills and estates. But it was while unravelling the truth about their own family heritage that the pair uncovered a surprising plot twist – they’re actually related too! “In fact, we like to say we are not related by blood, we’re related by murder,” laughs Fran, 55. “I was writing my family history up when I came across a woman’s name that I recognised as the same person in Deb’s family tree,” she explains.

The story goes that back in 1922, Fran’s great-aunt was murdered in Palmerston North. It became a wellpublicised case at the time.

“She was murdered by a chap who had returned from World War I with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which was unrecognised in those days.

“She was married and had a daughter. Her husband then remarried twice, and the second time he married was with Deb’s great-aunt. We couldn’t believe we had that connection.”