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Chasing Ghosts: 25 years of heartbreak for family

Author
Anna Leask,
Publish Date
Tue, 31 Oct 2017, 12:34PM
​

Chasing Ghosts: 25 years of heartbreak for family

Author
Anna Leask,
Publish Date
Tue, 31 Oct 2017, 12:34PM

• Amber-Lee's family are begging for answers
• Her brothers speak out for the first time
• It's been a hard 25 years of not knowing what happened
• Can you help bring Amber-Lee home?

Amber-Lee Cruickshank has been missing since October 17, 1992.

Since that day there have been no sightings, no clues - nothing to indicate what happened to her.

It has been torture for her mother Nicola and brothers Harley, Danny and Jacob.

In episode six of Chasing Ghosts, a podcast just released by the Herald, Amber-Lee's family share their decades of torture and torment.

Danny Cruickshank was a baby when Amber-Lee vanished. He's now 25.

"It sucks knowing that you had a sister but - where is she?" he said.

"Every year, every Christmas, there's always a spot with her name on the tree. There's always something missing and it sucks."

CHASING GHOSTS: FULL FEATURE AND SHORT DOCUMENTARY HERE

Chasing Ghosts is a six-part podcast series examining the 25-year-old cold case. It is the first serialised podcast produced by NZME and was released late last week. Comprising six episodes, it tells the story of Amber-Lee, what happened to her that day at Kingston and how her disappearance impacted on her family.

Amber-Lee vanished on October 17, 1992, at Kingston, a small town at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu.

She was there with her mother Nicola Cruickshank, stepfather James Gill And baby brother Danny.

Despite exhaustive searches of the lake, town and surrounding bush, there has never been any sign of Amber-Lee.

In the final episode of the podcast we hear what the family have gone through in the past 25 years - having their hopes raised and dashed, their fight for answers, their heartache and emptiness.

"I always remember Harley's words too, after all this had happened and he turned round and said 'you know mum if I was with you this never would have happened because I would have looked after Amber'," Nicola Cruickshank said.

"And that broke my heart.

Nicola desperately wants answers and has vowed never to stop seeking them.

"Come forward," she urged the person who took her daughter.

"Put an end to this nightmare.

"I have suffered enough, my family has suffered enough, my friends have suffered enough.

"If you wanted to get a message across you got it across loud and clear. We're still paying the price.

"But please, let her come home. Just tell us where she is."

Detective Sergeant John Kean is the current head of Operation Oliver, the search for Amber-Lee Cruickshank. New Zealand Herald photograph by Mike Scott

Detective Sergeant John Kean is the current head of Operation Oliver, the search for Amber-Lee Cruickshank. New Zealand Herald photograph by Mike Scott

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