Parker-Hulme Murder
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The Parker-Hulme Murder was a sensational murder and court case that occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1954.
On June 22, 1954, the body of Honora Rieper was found in Victoria Park in Christchurch. She had been killed by multiple blows to the head by a brick. Before the trial began, it was discovered that Honora Rieper had never married Herbert Rieper, the man known as her husband. Thus, she was referred to during the trial as Honora Parker. On June 23, two teenage girls were arrested, Pauline Parker (Parker's daughter, also known as Pauline Rieper) and Juliet Hulme. Pauline was a girl from a working class background; Juliet Hulme was the daughter of a distinguished physicist who was the rector of Canterbury College in Christchurch.
The two girls had formed a close personal friendship that their parents found disturbing. The two girls formed an elaborate fantasy life together and would sneak out and spend the night acting out stories involving fictional characters they had developed together. When their parents attempted to compel them to remain separate, they formed a plan to murder Pauline Parker's mother and escape to the United States.
The two girls were tried together. The trial was a sensational affair, with allegations of lesbianism and insanity. The girls were convicted on August 30, 1954, and each of them spent five years in prison. They were released with the condition that they never contact one another again.
After her release from prison, Juliet Hulme went on to have a successful career as a historical detective novelist under the name Anne Perry. The story of the murders was made into Peter Jackson's Oscar-nominated film, Heavenly Creatures.
The murder was touched upon as strong evidence of moral decline less than four months later by the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents in what became known as the Mazengarb Report, named after its chair, Oswald Mazengarb.
External links:
Information on the Parker-Hulme case from the public library of Christchurch, New Zealand: http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Heritage/ParkerHulme/
Extensive FAQ on the Heavenly Creatures film containing much data on the historical background of the motion picture: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/2194/