Police had 170 suspects for the Joanne McCarthy murder, a detective revealed in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.
Detective Sergeant Scott Beard, the second in charge of Operation Sundown - named after the reserve next to the Little Manly house where Joanne McCarthy was battered to death - said that Travis Burns was one of them.
Burns, aged 32, is accused of beating the 33-year-old kindergarten teacher to death with a hammer at her Whangaparaoa home on November 12, 1998.
Detective Sergeant Beard told of the large police effort that had been devoted to the case, including the attempt to locate a mystery yellow ute seen at the murder scene.
Nearly 2500 vehicle owners were contacted, yet the vehicle had never been found.
For a long time the ute was the focus of police inquiries, but the Crown now says it was a red herring.
Asked by defence lawyer Mike Levett whether the ute was still a "troubling" aspect of the case, Detective Sergeant Beard said: "I am not sure about troubling, but it is certainly a facet of the case that is unresolved."
Mr Levett said that if there had been an innocent explanation for the vehicle's presence, it would have been expected to be resolved.
Detective Sergeant Beard agreed that the police had not uncovered any evidence to suggest an innocent explanation for the ute's presence, but neither had they uncovered any to suggest it was involved.
Earlier in the trial, the lead defence lawyer, Barry Hart, accused a former friend of Burns - who said Burns had confessed the killing to him - of lying to get special treatment from the police.
But Detective Sergeant Beard said officers involved in the case had been specifically told there were to be no deals, no preferential treatment and no favours for the man, who gave evidence against Burns last week.
The officer, whose evidence touched on a number of topics in the case, said that, contrary to a local newspaper report, burglary had not been ruled out as a motive for the crime.
Accused one of 170 suspects in murder
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