Surrounded by total darkness, the headlights of Scott Guy's ute would have lit him up as if on a stage as he walked in front and his murderer shoved a shotgun at his throat.
The blast should have been heard for miles.
We revisited the murder site this week on the three-month anniversary of the killing, as police and the town of Feilding continue to search for answers to the unending mystery.
The killing of the 31-year-old, which police say was "targeted" rather than random, is wildly out of joint from usual Feilding life, but few irregularities were seen or heard on the July morning.
Feilding residents keep imagining new gangs and hitmen to try to explain who did it - anything than imagine that the horror arose out of their own "normal" world.
The town at 4am is all but silent. Only a few passing cars and a 24-hour McDonald's drive-through show signs of life.
Mr Guy's house is the last along the road and the only one without any hedge cover, standing exposed on a wide paddock.
Without any lights it is virtually invisible, but just one light would make it the most outstanding feature in the area.
At 4.25am, the rumble of a train 4km away breaks the hush for five minutes - not loud enough to conceal shotgun blasts, but enough to rouse a gentle sleeper. Several trains follow during the next three hours.
Police say Mr Guy left his house about 4.30am to drive out to his farm's shed about 1km down the road, but he did not get farther than his driveway.
He was found dead at 7.10am at the end of the driveway, at most 100m from his house, where his pregnant wife and 2-year-old son lay sleeping.
A passing motorist - understood to be a neighbour - found the body in front of his ute, which still had its headlights on.
Between those times, a witness saw two cars driving along the road 10 minutes apart just before 5am. The cars are unidentified and police are seeking more information about them.
Around this hour, sputtering engines of motorcycles or quad bikes rev up in the distance.
By 5.15am, the stream's trickle is overtaken by rising noise from the main road to Palmerston North, which runs along the train tracks, and a sense of secret cover on Mr Guy's driveway is lost.
Animals soon begin to stir, though a lone bird had already sung at 4.38am and a horse's breathing could be heard shortly afterwards.
Sunrise came an hour later in July - the birds, horses and cows might have been quiet for some time longer three months ago, in the depths of winter.
The week after the murder, police organised a roadblock between 4am and 8am along Campbell Rd, where Aorangi Rd starts, to gauge traffic volumes.
Aorangi Rd and Reid Line East, which connect at a bend, form a loop off the busier road.
Police stopped about 230 cars between 4am and 8am, and had the occupants of 80 fill out questionnaires.
But the traffic past Mr Guy's house this Thursday was far lighter: zero before 5am, and just one vehicle before 7am - a Palmerston North contractor's truck at 5.35am.
The road, especially towards Campbell Rd, comes to life by 7am, when people are out walking their dogs and cars drive past - but none of them saw or heard anything unusual on the morning of the murder until police cars and ambulances sped past.
One resident along the road said she thought the murder was the work of Feilding's "underworld", which she had not known existed until recently.
A farmer said the killer would be long gone by now, flown out to Auckland, Australia or Singapore.
The rumour mill in Feilding has grown quiet somewhat since the murder, but a sense of unease prevails.
Security and community support personnel visit houses and businesses more frequently. Local cafe owner and single mother Kellie Topham said safety concerns played on her mind, while resident Kerry Tofts said the murder still worried him.
"I think I could be walking home and it could be me," Mr Tofts said.
Window-washer Paul Gardiner said the town's character had changed.
"They don't really call it 'Friendly Feilding' like they used to."
