Lois Tolley, a 30-year-old woman from Upper Hutt, New Zealand, was murdered in her home on 9 December 2016 in what police described as an "execution-style" killing. Four men entered her home in Ward Street late at night, seeking drugs and cash, and violently attacked her. She was slashed with a machete and then shot at close range. The Police said Tolley had connections with the local drug scene, and believed her killers were attempting to collect a drug debt or were searching for valuables.
After an extensive investigation involving hundreds of interviews, police narrowed the suspect list to 12 people. Three men were eventually charged between 2019 and 2020. However, in early 2022, the case against all three collapsed. The case is controversial because the police used a now abandoned interviewing technique known as the Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model (CIPEM) to gain a 'confession'. The confession, and other evidence, was ruled inadmissible by Justice Simon France. As a result, five years after the murder and a lengthy investigation, the charges were withdrawn. This left open the possibility of future prosecutions if new evidence arises. The case remains unsolved.
Lois Tolley was home alone in Ward Street, Upper Hutt, on 9 December 2016. CCTV footage showed four men entering her home armed with a machete and a shotgun. [1] She was stabbed and shot at point blank range, in what police described as an execution-style killing. [2] [3] Two of the three were believed to be inside the house at the time of Tolley's death, while the third acted as a lookout. [1]
After an extensive investigation involving hundreds of interviews with drug dealers, known criminals, and gang members, the suspect list was eventually narrowed to 12 people. In 2019, two 27-year-old men were charged with Ms Tolley's murder. A year later, a third man was arrested and charged. [4]
Two of the male defendants spent about two years in custody, while the third, a female, was bailed in the community. All three pleaded not guilty and were given name suppression. [5] In September 2021, shortly before the case was due to go to trial, the case against one of the men was dismissed when the judge ruled the 'confession' he made to police could not be used.
Shortly after the charges against the first man were withdrawn, the Crown asked to withdraw the charges against a second defendant, due to the unreliability of admissions he was alleged to have made to other prisoners. Then the Crown learned that the witness who had made allegations against the female defendant had twice previously been charged with perverting the course of justice. The Crown then decided it could not call her as a witness. [5]
In February 2022, five years after Ms Tolley was murdered, the charges against the three defendants were dropped. [6] It was subsequently disclosed that the police case had been based on the controversial Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model (CIPEM) interviewing technique which led to the false confession. The CIPEM technique involved the use of empathy rather than confrontation, and the pretense of befriending the suspect to encourage them to talk about what had happened. Over the course of three days, police coaxed a confession from one suspect that he was responsible for shooting Ms Tolley - even though his description of events did not match known facts about the crime. [7]
Justice Simon France was highly critical of how the police proceeded, noting that the suspect persistently denied anything to do with Ms Tolley but that "denial was persistently rejected." Robert Lithgow, QC who represented the suspect said, "when it is overdone to give an entirely false sense of fake mateyness coupled with not listening to what the suspect says and repetitive endorsement and insistence that they 'know' the true story (which they did not) it can lead to an entirely artificial narrative." [8]
The interview technique was criticized by human rights lawyers, criminologists and psychologists – and has now been abandoned. [7]
The case against the defendants also involved a witness who had twice been charged with perverting the course of justice; two prisoners who received incentives for making allegations against one of the suspects; and dubious statements from another offender with over 60 dishonesty convictions. [9]
After the case was dropped in 2021, Robert Lithgow, KC, the lawyer for one suspect, said, "the five-year investigation to date has produced an entirely vaporous case". The police subsequently hired an Auckland lawyer Aaron Perkins, KC, to review what Perkins described as a "failed/aborted prosecution". [9]
Perkins completed his report in August 2022, but despite media requests, it has not been made public. The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) also conducted an investigation into the now-abandoned CIPEM interviewing technique. In May 2025, the IPCA said police should release the Perkins report. [9]
The IPCA also highlighted "other serious deficiencies" in the police investigation, which led to the charges being dropped against the three suspects. The family of one of the suspects who eventually had charges against him dropped also wants to see Perkins report to find out how he came to be arrested in the first place. [9]
The investigation into who killed Lois Tolley has stalled, and the police acknowledge that nobody is working full-time on her murder anymore. [9]