COPS described Grace Millane’s killer as a “very professional liar” but key moments emerged when they knew his story was a sham. Jesse Kempson, 29, was jailed for the murder after he strangled Grace to death after they met on a Tinder date on December 1, 2018 in Auckland. The 21-year-old’s body was later discovered buried in a suitcase […]
COPS described Grace Millane’s killer as a “very professional liar” but key moments emerged when they knew his story was a sham.
Jesse Kempson, 29, was jailed for the murder after he strangled Grace to death after they met on a Tinder date on December 1, 2018 in Auckland.
The 21-year-old’s body was later discovered buried in a suitcase and a jury unanimously found Kempson guilty on November 22, 2019, following a two-week trial.
Chilling interviews he gave to police, in which Kempson at first brazenly lied about what happened on their date, then sickeningly tried to claim he killed her in a sex game that went wrong have been revealed.
ITV’s ‘The Murder of Grace Millane: Social Media Murders’ shows how at five key moments, investigators knew he was lying.
A key part of the investigation was a dedicated team sifting through thousands of hours of CCTV.
During interview, the killer told Detective Ewen Settle his account of what happened when the pair went on date after hooking up on Tinder.
Settle said Kempson presented well and was wearing a three piece suit with a hanky – and while some of the things he said “were odd” he added that “some people are odd”.
Kempson told the officer they went to a burger restaurant and that the last time he saw her was around 8pmy, when they then parted company.
He then said he went to a pub where he had ten drinks and said he woke up at 9 or 10am the next day, Sunday morning.
But CCTV footage showed them clearly walking through the streets of Auckland back to his apartment.
“We got to the point where we knew that during the interview that enough CCTV had come through that pointed out he had been lying to us on one specific point,” Det Settle said.
Chilling footage from the lift shows Kempson and Grace heading up to his apartment – the last time she would be seen alive.
Later on in his interview, Kempson was handed a CCTV still by Det Settle who asked him: “Is that you?”
The officer told him that the picture was him coming back to his flat, which was in a hotel, at 8am on Sunday, and hadn’t been asleep as he claimed.
Looking at Kempson directly in the eye, Settle says: “You haven’t told the truth.”
Just about retaining his calm, the killer replies: “Is there something you want to ask me?”
Detective Inspector Gary Beard, who lead the investigation, said: “We knew he was a liar. He was comfortable and plausible in his lies. He was very professional.”
But he added: “We didn’t have any evidence that he had done anything to Grace.”
At that point, New Zealand law meant that Kempson had to be released after 48 hours of questioning.
Investigators had began carrying out a forensic examination of Kempson’s flat.
At first it seemed there was nothing to suggest Grace has been murdered or any sign she had been there.
But forensics teams covered the floor with a chemical called luminol that glows when it reacts with traces of blood.
Images show purple patches across the floor where Grace’s blood had been, which indicated to officers that Kempson was lying.
Gary Beard said: “When you see the inside of Kempson’s apartment and you see the luminol, which is indicating all the blood in that room, you go ‘oh my gosh, what’s he done?’”
On December 8, Kempson’s phone was scoured for clues, in particular searches he had made and what time he had made them.
Around 1.30am, after he had killed Grace, he was searching ‘how to make the hottest fires?’ as well as pornography.
Officers were then told that his phone signal had been picked up on the Waitākere Ranges, outside Auckland, on the Monday.
Grace’s body was later found buried there.
Confronted with CCTV, Kempson finally admitted that he hadn’t in fact parted company with Grace,.
He said they had gone to a Mexican restaurant for drinks and then back to his flat.
When they were there, he said that Grace brought up the novel ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, which centres on a woman’s sexual fantasies about being dominated by men.
Kempson then claimed they started having “violent sex”.
He told Settle that Grace asked him to “hold her throat” and that all he remembered was falling asleep in the shower.
But police by then knew in detail how Grace had died and it exposed Kempson’s story as a grotesque lie.
“What we know is that Kempson strangled Grace for seven to ten minutes,” said Gary Beard.
“That’s not rough sex. That’s murder.”
Other aspects of his behaviour also led officers to believe his story was a fabrication.
He was comfortable and plausible in his lies. He was very professional
Detective Inspector Gary Beard
CCTV showed him calmly buying a suitcase to dispose of her body and cleaning products, which he admitted were used to clean his flat.
Other footage showed him carrying a bag with Grace’s property stuffed into a plastic bag and then dumping it in a rubbish bin.
Police then took him to where she was buried but Kempson continued to insist he hadn’t meant to kill her.
At that point, it was the end of the line and Kempson was once again asked if he meant to kill Grace, which he denied.
At that point, Detective Settle said: “Jesse Kemspon, you’re under arrest for murder of Grace Millane.”
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