The case involved the disappearance of a couple, Sam and Christobel Lakey, who went missing from their farm in Ruawaro, New Zealand, in October 1933.

William Bayly owned the farm adjacent to the Lakey's. He was initially a suspect, but when Christobel was discovered dead in a pond, and police couldn't find her husband, the focus of the investigation went into finding him.

However, investigators later found gruesome evidence of of a cremation in one of Bayly's outhouses... Bayly was charged with murder.

At trial, 250 small pieces of Sam Lakey were presented to the jury, along with human hair and bone fragments.

It was seen as a breakthrough for forensics.