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Shocking Video Shows New Zealand Killer Smuggling Grace Millane’s Body Out Of Hotel In Suitcase
Jesse Kempson, who was convicted of strangling Grace Millane to death after a Tinder date in 2018, allegedly abused two other women before killing the British backpacker.
Chilling security footage just released after a ban was lifted by a New Zealand court reveals murdered British tourist Grace Millane’s final moments alive — and shows her newly identified murderer hauling her remains out of a hotel in his luggage.
Millane, who was backpacking through New Zealand, was strangled to death hours after going on a Tinder date with Jesse Shane Kempson in Auckland in 2018.
Kempson was found guilty of murdering the young backpacker on the eve of her 22nd birthday, according to the BBC. He was sentenced to life in prison in February. The 28-year-old was only identified after a court-ordered publication ban was lifted, following an unsuccessful appeal, as court documents obtained by Oxygen.com show.
In order to protect his trial rights, New Zealand courts had ordered Kempson’s name to be withheld due to his involvement and subsequent convictions in two separate sexual violence cases. The attacks stem from two incidents in November 2016 and April 2017, the BBC reported.
The judgment also unsealed uncensored and disturbing CCTV footage that had been major evidence in the case, the New Zealand Herald reported. The series of video clips shows a number of scenes from the booze-fueled date in 2018 and tracks Kempson’s moves in the hours after the killing.
Millane and Kempson allegedly met on the dating app on Dec. 1, 2018, according to the Guardian.
The first video clip opens with the pair hugging and meeting for their date. Millane and Kempson share drinks — and a number of kisses — before heading back to the New Zealand man’s hotel. They can be seen holding hands as a sliding glass door opens. Millane and Kempson stroll into an elevator and the door closes as the British tourist’s back turns to the camera; it’s the last time Millane is seen alive.
The next scene shows a stone-faced Kempson walking into a fluorescent-lit store and purchasing what appears to be cleaning supplies. He later leaves his hotel carrying a suitcase, which prosecutors said contained Millane’s body. The series of clips concludes with Kempson, who looks noticeably distraught, riding in the backseat of a taxi.
Millane's body was recovered over a week later from foothills about 20 miles southwest of Auckland, the Guardian reported.
The woman’s family had openly supported the publication ban that kept the name of their daughter’s murderer out of the headlines.
"[It] allowed people to remember Grace — a young, vibrant girl who set out to see the world, instead of the man who took her life,” her family wrote in a statement to the BBC. "To use his name shows we care and gives him the notoriety he seeks. We instead choose to speak Grace's name."
During the graphic three-week trial earlier this year, forensic pathologists said Millane was likely strangled for several minutes before she died. Kempston searched the web for “flesh-eating birds” and porn after strangling the British woman, prosecutors said. He reportedly took photos of Millane’s body before stuffing it in his luggage, investigators said.
Throughout the case, Kempson’s attorney had alleged Millane accidentally died during consensual rough sex. He repeatedly lied in police interviews, according to prosecutors.
Millane had traveled through South America for six weeks before arriving in New Zealand, according to the BBC. She spent roughly two weeks there before her death.
In court, Millane’s mother told Kempson that her daughter “died terrified and alone in your room.”
"I am absolutely heartbroken that you have taken my daughter's future and robbed us of so many memories that we were going to create," Gillian Millane said in a victim impact statement.
"The tears I shed are never-ending at the thought of never having the chance to kiss my Grace goodbye," she said.
