A bikie gang member gave Kirsty Bentley’s best friend an envelope of cash for the grieving family, but it’s not seen as a case breakthrough.
Lee-Anne Murray (nee Jellyman) now lives in Rangiora and was with Kirsty hours before the teenager disappeared in Ashburton on New Year’s Eve in 1998.
The unsolved murder still haunts Murray, who remembers being given cash in an envelope by a bikie gang stranger outside Kirsty’s funeral at the St Stephen’s Anglican Church in which about 700 attended.
“I can’t remember too much about it now,’’ Murray said.
“I just gave it (cash) to the Bentleys.’’
Detective Greg Murton, who has overseen the case since 2014, thought the cash offering was interesting but did not think it suggested the gang was involved in the murder.
“Bikie gangs don’t normally go out and murder young random females for a start,’’ he said.
“I don’t think it would have been a pay off or anything like that to cover up for any of their members who may have been involved.
“It sounds like it was a nice gesture from them.’’
