Crime Theories

In the city of Auckland, Grace Mullane, a backpacker from England, arrived in 2018 with plans to spend a couple of weeks traveling and experiencing New Zealand. She decided to use Tinder to meet new people and start her adventure.

Grace, an outgoing and gregarious person, had always dreamed of traveling the world. After completing her degree in advertising and marketing at the University of Lincoln, she took a gap year to explore before settling into a job and the routine of everyday life.

She began her journey in South America, visiting Peru and immersing herself in the local culture. From there, she traveled to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland. Grace, staying at the Base Backpackers hostel, decided to download Tinder to connect with locals and fellow travelers.

When you’re traveling by yourself it can tend to get a little lonely so meeting up with someone new can be fun. Especially if you are doing it safely This is what Grace’s thinking was she was meeting him at the Sky City Casino in a public place, they went to a burger joint for dinner and had a few drinks there things were going good. Jesse was charming he had a good sense of humor and he had a rough past but he seemed to be making the most of his life. He told her about how he was adopted as a child but it wasn’t all bad because he was adopted into a wealthy family. He also discussed how he has terminal cancer and that is why he is traveling the world. He wants to enjoy as much as possible with the time he has left. Grace and Jesse go to two more bars and are seen even hugging and kissing each other. They seem to be very comfortable with each other. She even wrote a friend a message back home saying she can’t believe how well they got along and that they really clicked. This however would be the last time anyone hears from grace again.

She was constantly posting on social media. And doing daily check ins On December 2 2018 was her birthday and everyone was sending her happy birthday messages and she didn’t respond this rang alarm bells she was reported missing on December 5th by her father.

Police spoke with one of her friends who was in the UK and she told them that December 1st she had a tinder date set up. She was captured at 5:45 pm being seen with her tinder match date on surveillance at Sky City a casino complex. It is a very public place to meet someone a very what you would call safe place to meet someone. The last person who was seen commenting on her facebook was a man named Jesse Shane. Police contacted Jesse Shane by social media and arranged an interview.

He told police they drank a lot of cocktails at the burger bar. And then they went to a second bar he pays the bill both times. Quite charming behavior obviously trying to impress her. After the second bar they ended up going to a third bar and they both looked really relaxed. Then you can see on camera them both hugging and kissing. It looks like this date is going very well. But the last thing that he said what happened was he gave her a kiss and asked about tomorrow and they both went on there way. He also said he went to another bar that night and then he doesn’t remember getting home but he woke up around 9 to 10 am in the morning and that was it.

The police launched an investigation, focusing on Grace’s movements and activities in Auckland. With the help of CCTV footage, they were able to track her movements on the night she disappeared. They discovered that she had met a man named Jesse Kempson, whom she had connected with on Tinder.

The police discovered that Grace had gone on a date with Jesse on the night she disappeared. They visited several locations together, including SkyCity, a casino, and various bars. They ended up at Jesse’s apartment at City Life Hotel.

When questioned by the police, Jesse denied any knowledge of Grace’s whereabouts. He claimed that he had no idea what happened to her. However, his lies and deceitful behavior began to unravel.

Police were able to obtain camera footage from his hotel and saw that Jesse had indeed left at 8am that morning. From there he goes to a wearhouse store on Ellis street he buys a new suitcase the biggest one he could find.

Jesse Kempson, a 26-year-old from Wellington, had a history of lying and embellishing his life story. He claimed to have terminal cancer, wealthy adoptive parents, and various other false claims. In reality, he had a more mundane life working odd jobs.

Despite his initial denial, Jesse would eventually be linked to Grace’s disappearance. His deceptive nature and false claims painted a disturbing picture. The investigation intensified as the authorities worked to uncover the truth.

He told police that suitcase is still in his room that he bought another suitcase for traveling and that suitcase was still in his room. So police are forced to let Jesse go.

Jesse Shawn was a 26 year old he would tell people he had a law degree and owned a business. Jesse’s family painted this picture of him being a complex character. He had a falling out with his dad two years ago and haven’t really talked to his family since then. His grandfather made this comment. “He’s a really nice kid but he would just have a falling out with people all the time”

As the police did some more investigation they found out that Grace did indeed on December 1st 2018 go up to Jesse’s apartment This was around 9:40pm. They also spot Jesse buying bleach and other cleaning supplies. Then he went to a car rental place and rented a new car.

He proceeded to go on another date just the night after grace was seen going into his home but never coming out. The woman he went on a date with said he was very intense. He was talking about a murder case where a couple were having rough raw sex and then he accidently murdered her and he said “It’s crazy how a guy can do one mistake and be in jail the rest of his life” She was spooked and ended the date.

He was seen on camera the next day bringing down luggage and it was packed full. Jesse was brought in a second time and this time his story completely changed. He said that she was talking about 50 shades of grey and that she wanted him to be rough with her They had violent sex on the floor and then she took a photo of his stuff and he took photos of her. He said she told him to strangle her and he ended up strangling her to death. He said he didn’t realize he strangled her to death he right after went into the shower and fell asleep in the shower ya know like you do and the next day he woke up and found her dead and that she had blood coming form her nose. he said ” I screamed and yelled at her I tried to get her to move but she wasn’t responsive at all.” It is a whole diminishing the blame on her. I shook her and tried to see if she was alive and he didn’t try to call for help. After she was deceased Jesse instead of calling for help was looking online at porn sites. And Hottest fire, and mountain areas. They even found pictures of Grace’s naked body after she was killed. He had do that so senselessly and taken that last shred of dignity from her. And her family had to hear that. Jesse said he was terrified and scared. and in shock.

He was recorded taking the suitcase down at 9:30pm then he went to the hardwear store and picked up a shovel on the third of December. Then he was seen at a car wash four hours later. He states that he ended up driving to the Waitakere mountians and pulled into the reservoir and went into the bush and dug a hole and put the suitcase in the hole. Police had found on his phone gps of where he had already been. He denies killing Grace.

Grace’s body was found the next day in the Waitakere range. Police spot Jesse on the third of December buying a second suitcase trying to cover up his tracks. He also threw out a bag of something on December 3rd as well. They also found on the surveillance videos that when Grace goes to the bathroom Jesse grabs her purse and is looking through it. We aren’t sure what he was looking for but he was looking through her things.

The police interviewed several of Jesse’s tinder dates and one said that she said she almost died from suffocation at his hands. He really thinks he did nothing wrong.

This is the second Tinder Murder I have covered. I caution everyone out there to be safe keep in touch and go on several dates with these people before hooking up you never know who these people really are. Also do your research Check out Truth Finder they can do background checks and just make sure the person you are on a date with is safe.