The Nigel Bom Stories: Black Prints on The Wall and Piecing It Together
Episode 4: At Nigel Bom's reception, the family are told he was murdered. The flat cleanup and photos of his bedroom foster suspicion, as his sister Krystal tries to make sense of his death.
Had Nigel been murdered?
“We had a lot of people telling us about hearing foul play with Nigel. This also included people that may have been there at the time or knew people involved were talking to others about the night Nigel was taken from us. Admitting he was murdered and left there.”
Krystal Martin, Nigel Bom’s sister
On Tuesday, 6 April 2021, Krystal watched his Nigel’s funeral through a screen in Australia, New Zealand’s borders being closed during the Covid lockdown.
After her brother’s funeral, mother Debbie hosted a reception in her New Brighton home. There the family were told that Nigel hadn’t died of a seizure and had been killed.
Photos of black prints on Nigel’s bedroom wall (supplied)
On the Wednesday, Krystal received a text from her niece. At the reception, she had heard that Nigel had been murdered.
“It felt like I had gone back to the day we lost him,” wrote Krystal. “My world crashed and I was in a state of both confusion and shock.”
“I called my mum who had also just heard the same thing.”
“On top of that the people we were hearing that knew of his death were also long[-]term friends who never showed up to his funeral.”
A whirlpool of confusion engulfed the Bom family; friendships would be questioned; and alibis tested.
The Flat - the Scene of a Medical Event or a Homicide?
Otautahi Community Housing Trust staff had found Nigel’s decomposing body in his flat during a wellbeing flat. Krystal was told a key was used to enter the front room, and that staff did not enter the flat or touch his body.
Nigel Bom (right)
They then left the flat and informed the Police.
In the bedroom, Police took photos of his body.
After the Police had left, the Bom family were allowed to pack up Nigel’s things and clean up the flat.
Krystal received photographs from her sister Hayley. She had photographed black handprints on the wall above Nigel’s bed.
With rumours of Nigel’s murder circulating, Krystal was trying to understand what had happened to him.
“[I] was trying to piece together everything I could really, anything I could find.”
“The big thing that stood were dirty hand prints on the wall. It was like a phobia he had. He never liked dirty hands. Never. That was why it stood out. That led us to believe somebody other than the Police or OCHT had been in the house.”
“I asked police to fingerprint them which they did not do then I sent photos of them through also which they did not look into.
Nigel’s hat brought another surprise.
For previous episodes from the Nigel Bom Stories, click below:
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