January 01, 1998. Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. Two friends celebrating New Year's Eve ran into trouble after the boat they had planned to get on was overcrowded. They located a water taxi still operating and got in. Sharing the ride was a man who learned that they had nowhere to sleep and offered to let them stay on his boat. As this was their only real option they accepted and the taxi took them to the man's ketch. The two friends, Olivia Hope and Ben Smart, were never seen again. The police conducted an investigation and despite a number of witnesses describing the same man and the same two masted sailing boat, they focused on a man with a smaller vessel named Scott Watson. Where this true crime case went from there has been a source of controversy ever since...
