Soon after, they were told by a Dunedin detective their son had been arrested for murder.
In an interview screened on TV3's 60 Minutes current affairs programme last night, filmed before the trial, Roger and Yuleen Weatherston and their daughter Angela, told of their heartbreak over hearing that their son and brother had killed Miss Elliott, and how they felt scared about reaction to their name in the community.
However, their loss was nothing compared with that of the Elliott family: "It is very hard to think there is a family out there that our son is responsible for destroying . . . ," Mr Weatherston said.
They said never in their "wildest dreams" did they think their son could commit such a crime.
On the day of the murder, Mrs Weatherston was supposed to meet her son for lunch for his 32nd birthday, but he did not turn up.
In the car, she heard a snippet of the news which said there had been an incident at a house in Ravensbourne, the suburb where Miss Elliott's parents lived, and with ages that matched her son and Miss Elliott.
She rang her husband and he went to the university.
Weatherston's car was not parked where it normally was.
He then headed to Ravensbourne and saw a police cordon around the Elliotts' house.
"I was screaming at Roger to go and have a look," Mrs Weatherston said.
Mr Weatherston was told to speak to the officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis.
Det Snr Sgt Croudis said, "`I'm sorry, but I've arrested your son'.
"I was absolutely stunned. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that Clayton could do that."
Mrs Weatherston has been visiting her son in prison every week for the past 18 months, driving from Dunedin to Christchurch to spend an hour with him.
He is in 24-hour lockdown to protect him from other prisoners.
"I still love him to bits despite this," she said.
"I still believe he is a good person. The Clayton that committed this horrific act is not the Clayton that we knew.
"All he has ever wanted to be is a good boy, and say and do the right thing."
She said she was "less likely" to head to her local shopping centre just in case she saw people she knew.
Mr Weatherston said he could not "rationalise" what his son had done.
"All of his achievements have amounted to nothing. One second has destroyed everything he has achieved."
