Contextual Study: The Parker–Hulme Murder Case (Heavenly Creatures)

    The Parker–Hulme murder case took place in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, on 22 June 1954, when Honorah Rieper was killed by her teenage daughter, Pauline Parker, and Pauline's close friend Juliet Hulme.

    As a child, Parker had suffered from osteomyelitis; and Hulme had suffered from tuberculosis, and was sent by her parents to the Bahamas to recover. The girls initially bonded over their respective illnesses, but, as their friendship developed, they formed an elaborate fantasy life together. They would often sneak out and spend the night acting out stories involving the fictional characters they had created. Their parents found this disturbing and worried that their relationship might be sexual. Homosexuality at the time was considered a serious mental illness, so both sets of parents attempted to prevent the girls from seeing each other. 

    In 1954, Juliet's parents separated; her father lost his job at Canterbury College and planned to return to England. It was then decided that Juliet would be sent to live with relatives in South Africa—mainly for her health, but also so that the girls would be more effectively, if not permanently, separated. Pauline told her mother that she wanted to accompany Juliet, but Pauline's mother made it clear it would not be allowed. The girls then formed a plan to murder Pauline's mother and leave the country for Hollywood in the United States.

     

On 22 June 1954, the body of Honorah Rieper was discovered in Victoria Park, in Christchurch, New Zealand. That morning Honorah had gone for a walk through Victoria Park with her daughter Pauline Parker, and Juliet Hulme. Down the path, in a wooded area of the park, Hulme and Parker bludgeoned Rieper to death with a brick placed in an old stocking.  After committing the murder they had planned together, the girls fled, covered in blood, back to the tea kiosk where the three of them had eaten only minutes before. Major lacerations were found about her head, neck, and face, with minor injuries to her fingers. Police soon discovered the murder weapon in the nearby woods, and the girls' story of Rieper's accidental death quickly fell apart.

The trial was an astonishing spectacle, with speculation about the girls possible lesbianism and insanity. The girls were convicted on 28 August 1954, and each of them spent five years in prison as they were too young to be considered for the death penalty. They were later released, and adopted new identities.