New Zealand woman accused of killing mother after stealing cash for crypto

New Zealander Julia DeLuney is accused of having murdered her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory, after funneling her money into crypto.

According to a Tuesday report by Radio New Zealand, 53-year-old DeLuney is accused of killing her mother after stealing the money that she kept hidden in her home. Gregory reportedly distrusted banks and instead kept plastic packets hidden around the house.

When Gregory was hospitalized after a fall in September 2023, DeLuney and her husband allegedly stayed at her house. The elder’s friends told the court that upon her return, she found the home in a poor state and noticed that money was missing.

Gregory’s friend, Cheryl Thomson, mentioned that NZD $51,000 ($30,000) was gone. She added:

"She told me categorically, without any doubt, that the only person who knew that the money was there was Julia."

Thomson also said that Gregory confided that when confronted, DeLuney — currently at home on electronically monitored bail — stated that she had invested it in cryptocurrency. She noted that the amount her daughter had invested was approximately NZD $45,000.

DeLuney at the court. Source: Radio New Zealand

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The crypto scam

Gregory was found dead at her home in January 2024, two days after receiving an email from her daughter claiming that her crypto investment resulted in significant profit equivalent to over NZD $160,000. DeLuney reportedly told her mother that she needed over NZD $18,000 for withdrawal fees and tax liabilities to withdraw the profits.

She asked her mother to cover half of those expenses. Still, experts consulted by the court suggested that those fees were not real and such lies constituted a common part of scams.

Gregory’s friend Elizabeth Askin said that DeLuney promised to give her mother returns on her investments by November 2024. Then, later, she said that she would share those earnings in April 2024.

Financial analyst Eric Huang told the court that his analysis of DeLuney's financial records showed she had spent more than she earned in the year leading up to her mother’s death. His study found that between Jan. 1, 2023, and Jan. 25, 2024, she spent NZD $93,000 on crypto investments.

Huang added that during the same period, she received over NZD $55,000 from friends and family, primarily from her mother and father. By January 2024, DeLuney's investments were also nearly NZD $41,000 in the red.

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The murder

Prosecutors accused DeLuney of killing her mother in her own house, driving back home, and returning later with her husband. She claims to have left her mother with minor injuries after she fell from the attic, only to find her mother’s home resembling a “warzone” on her return.

The reconstruction of the events suggests that DeLuney attacked her mother before staging it to look like she had fallen from the attic. Still, inconsistencies in her story led police to investigate the death as manslaughter, rather than an accident.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Quentin Duff, Detective Sergeant Giulia Boffa said police found inconsistencies in DeLuney’s account. He said:

"There was information that was important that was missing from the accounts that were being provided around changing clothing and a number of areas travelled to that we were picking up that we were not being told about."

DeLuney reportedly changed clothes multiple times that evening. A sweep of the interior of Gregory’s home found blood on the walls and floor, and clumps of hair in the hallway and bedroom — details not consistent with a fall from the attic.

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