Heavy metal: The Crime Scene

listen to the podcast

Stuff's podcast Heavy Metal explores the murder of Christchurch scrap dealer John Reynolds two decades ago. Here, in this interactive feature series, we delve further into his story.

Written and researched by Martin van Beynen and Blair Ensor.

All chapters

Nothing much remains of the factory unit at 220 Hazeldean Rd where John Thomas Reynolds, 55, met his end.

On April 28, 1996, Reynolds was bashed to death with a heavy instrument in his scrap metal yard called Garden City Scrap Co.

Only the concrete floor on which his body was found can still be seen through the high gates of the car yard that now occupies the space.

Some things remain the same. Locomotives pulling coal trains still ply the railway tracks just across the road.

The building that once stood over much of the lot was demolished after the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

Reynolds bought the building with the help of his brother Michael not long after he was made redundant from the railways in 1990.

Michael owned the building next door and used it for his electrical contracting business.

The front entrance of Reynolds' building was a large roller door in which a smaller door provided easy access when the roller door was closed.

Reynolds was found lying face down about five metres in from the roller door. He lay in a pool of blood near the scales he used for weighing scrap brought in by suppliers.

Because the roller door was down, police deduced that Reynolds had gone inside through the small door with someone who may have been a supplier and whom he knew. He was then disabled by a blow to the head and struck repeatedly while on the floor.

His office, where he paid most of his suppliers, was just inside the building. It was also the smoko room and a place where he would have a yarn over coffee with his mates.

A tray in a drawer of the desk contained cash for paying suppliers.

His daughter Lara, who used to love going to work with her Dad, says Reynolds was happy in his yard.

My last image of him is being face down in his own blood. . .and that’s not pretty, but my overwhelming image is of him being happy down there doing his thing.

Reynolds ran a tight ship and got rid of scrap quickly but the weekend's haul should still have been on the premises.

Police thought they might be able to track the killer by pairing scrap with identified suppliers and seeing what was left over.

They compiled a list of customers and appealed for suppliers of certain bits of scrap to come forward. One witness recognised a piece of scrap as coming from the Lincoln dump.

The strategy did not reap the dividends the police hoped.

A police recreation of the yard on the day Reynolds died, with his truck parked outside.

A police recreation of the yard on the day Reynolds died, with his truck parked outside.

Police also searched the building for the weapon used to bash Reynolds to death. Although the yard contained plenty of blunt instruments, the items used in the murder were never identified.

listen to the podcast