“THE CHILDREN WERE ROASTED ALIVE—BUT DAD DIDN’T HAVE A SINGLE BURN ON HIM”

Police expose calculated horror behind Sanson blaze that wiped out three innocent kids and their father

By Sarah McKenzie, Senior Crime Reporter Sanson, Manawatū – 23 November 2025

Detective Inspector Ross Grantham stood before a stunned press pack yesterday and delivered the sentence no one in this quiet farming town will ever forget:

“THE CHILDREN WERE ROASTED ALIVE—BUT THE FATHER DIDN’T HAVE A SINGLE BURN MARK ON HIM. THIS WAS NO ACCIDENT. THIS WAS MURDER.”

The words hung in the humid summer air like smoke that refuses to clear.

What police have now confirmed is a scene so calculated, so monstrous, that seasoned homicide investigators say it ranks among the worst they have ever walked into.

The timeline of terror – Saturday 15 November 2025

02:14 a.m. – Dean Brent Field, 42, a once-respected diesel mechanic, searches his phone for “how to suffocate child quickly no marks” and “how much petrol to burn a house fast”.
02:37 a.m. – Final text to estranged wife Emily Field: “If I can’t have them, nobody will.”
02:50 a.m. – Neighbour two properties over reports hearing “muffled high-pitched crying” that abruptly stops.
02:55 a.m. – Security camera on a nearby dairy farm captures a tall figure carrying jerry cans from a shed.
14:27 p.m. – Triple-zero call: the single-storey weatherboard house on State Highway 1 is fully engulfed. Thick black smoke visible from Bulls, 15 km away.

Firefighters arrived to an inferno so intense the heat buckled the corrugated-iron roof. It took six appliances and 28 crew more than four hours to bring it under control.

Inside lay the unimaginable.

The discovery

In the children’s bedroom, under collapsed gib board and smouldering teddy bears, lay the charred bodies of:

August Field, 7 – the cheeky striker for Sanson Primary’s football team
Hugo Field, 5 – who still slept with his baby blanket
Goldie Field, 1 – not found until 36 hours later, curled inside a melted plastic toy box

Beside them, untouched by flame, lay their father Dean Field. No soot in his airways. No burns. Just lividity pooling in his back and a single empty pill bottle clutched in his hand.

Autopsies delivered the knock-out blow: all three children died of compression asphyxia long before the fire started. Toxicology showed traces of an over-the-counter sedative in their blood – the same brand found crushed into the Milo in the kitchen.

“He planned every second,” Detective Grantham said, eyes glassy. “He drugged them, waited until they stopped breathing, arranged their bodies, doused the room, then lay down to die beside them. The fire was theatre – he wanted the world to see his ‘pain’.”

The breaking point

Court documents unsealed yesterday paint a portrait of a proud man unravelling.

Just nine days earlier, on 6 November, Family Court Judge Melissa Pohiva granted Emily Field sole day-to-day care after a psychologist’s report described Dean as “exhibiting controlling behaviour and acute financial stress likely to endanger the children”.

Dean’s panel-beating business had collapsed owing the IRD $187,000. Creditors were seizing tools. His ute had been repossessed the week prior.

Friends say the custody ruling was the final hammer blow.

“He kept saying ‘They’re my whole world – without them I’m nothing’,” childhood mate Shane Cooper told this reporter, voice breaking. “We thought he meant he’d fight harder. We never thought…”

The mother no one can look in the eye

Emily Field, 38, a midwife at Palmerston North Hospital, was in a conference breakout session when her phone exploded with missed calls.

She raced 40 km home to find the street cordoned off and a chaplain waiting.

Yesterday she released a one-sentence statement through her lawyer:

“I begged the court to let me take them that weekend. I was told I was being dramatic. My babies paid the price.”

A Givealittle page titled “For Emily – bury her angels” hit $347,000 in 48 hours – the fastest in New Zealand history.

The town that can’t sleep

Sanson School remains closed. Principal Grayson Marsh says some children are refusing to enter any bedroom alone.

Black ribbons now flutter from every letterbox on State Highway 1. At the site, teddy bears outnumber flowers three to one, many scorched by the sun.

Last night, 400 residents packed the community hall for a candlelight vigil. When the names August, Hugo and Goldie were read, the sobbing was so loud it drowned out the minister.

The warning no one heeded

Mental health crisis team notes, obtained under the Official Information Act, show Dean Field called Lifeline three times in the week before the killings.

Each time he hung up when asked for his name.

Police warning

Detective Inspector Grantham ended yesterday’s briefing with a plea that chilled the nation:

“This could have been stopped. Someone knew he was at breaking point. If you see a dad drowning – throw the bloody rope. Don’t wait for the coroner to tell you it’s too late.”

A coronial inquest has been opened. Police say charges are academic – the only person who could face them is already dead.

For the three little souls who never hurt a soul, justice now looks like flowers wilting on a roadside and a mother learning how to breathe without her heart.

August, Hugo and Goldie Field Forever 7, 5 and 1 Taken 15 November 2025 Because one man’s pain was louder than three small voices.