Police return to the scene of the body-in-car discovery in the Hawke's Bay homicide investigation. Video / Supplied
WARNING: Contains content some people may find upsetting
Police have returned to the scene of where a car containing a woman was torched in a Hawke's Bay reserve – a week on from when officers first thought her remains were those of a sheep.
Officers investigating are today at the River Road Recreational Reserve on the outskirts of Havelock North.
It comes a day after police confirmed they had launched a homicide investigation into the case, having earlier in the week described it as an "unexplained death".
Police speak to a dog walker at the River Road Reserve carpark on Saturday morning. Photo / Neil Reid
Officers first headed there last Saturday after reports of a burnt-out car in the River Rd carpark.
A charred body was found in the back seat of the car – with part of it jammed behind the driver's seat – but attending officers did not identify the remains as being those of a human.
A removal truck was booked to return to the scene on Monday to take the car to a wrecker's yard.
It wasn't until a dog walker made a closer inspection of the wreckage on Monday morning that police realised the remains were those of a woman.
The man who realised the body was of a human told the Herald earlier this week that she appeared to have sustained numerous bone fractures.
Detective Dave De Lange said police were "working hard to identify this woman and to establish what has happened to her".
Police are also at the site talking to visitors to the popular walking destination over the weekend.
"This weekend we will have our community bus at the River Road Recreational Reserve to speak with anyone who may have been in the area last weekend and has information they think may be relevant to police," De Lange said.
This morning three bunches of flowers lay at the spot where the car had been torched.
Three floral tributes have been laid where a woman's body was found in a burnt-out car on the outskirts of Havelock North. Photo / Neil Reid
A police bus was positioned just past the entry to the carpark, with officers talking to visiting dog walkers and locals.
Senior sergeant Steve Nicoll told the Herald that as well as trying to garner any information which might help the homicide investigation, the police presence was also intended to reassure locals and others who used the area that they shouldn't be concerned.
"There are people that come to this location regularly. So our purpose is to give those people an opportunity to let us know if they have information that might help the investigation," Nicoll said.
"We will be here periodically through Saturday between the hours of about 9am and 4pm and the same on Sunday."
De Lange confirmed on Friday that after receiving the results of a post-mortem they were now treating the death as a homicide.
He said police were "determined" to find out what happened to the woman and "hold the person or persons responsible for her death to account".
Police officers and forensics staff at the scene on Tuesday, a day after police realised remains in a burnt-out car were those of a woman. Photo / Neil Reid
The victim had not yet been identified, but police were "following lines of inquiry in relation to this".
Police believe the car the woman's body was found in was driven to the reserve between 10pm last Friday and 7am last Saturday.
"We are now appealing to anyone who may have gone down to the River Rd carpark between those times who saw the vehicle or any people in the area," De Lange said.
"We are also appealing to anyone who may have picked up anyone walking in the River Rd or the Te Mata Rd area during those times.
"We want to assure our community that we are following strong lines of inquiry in relation to this woman's death and acknowledge that this has been a concerning time for the community."
On Tuesday, the Herald revealed police first believed the remains were of a sheep.
A day earlier a dog walker took a closer look at the wreck in the reserve's carpark and said he "noticed inside the car what to me looked like a corpse".
"Instantly, I yelled out to the first person near me who was also walking a dog, 'Hey, there's a body in the back'," the man told the Herald.
"He looked at another dog walker, and both of these two dudes waltzed over to the car and said, 'We have already heard about it mate, it's been here since Saturday. It is just a dog'."
The man said he "wasn't convinced" the remains were those of an animal.
He took a closer look and discovered a woman's body which was lying "face down behind the driver's seat".
"I could see a shape that looked like a human," he said.
The man said on closer inspection it was obvious to him the charred body was not that of an animal, including the fact it had shoulder-length hair and was wearing a silver neck chain.
He immediately called police and urged them to rush to the scene.
When officers arrived, he said they told him that they were already aware of the wreck and said the remains were those of an animal.
"They sent someone down," he said. "They waltzed on down [to the carpark] and it was like, 'We have already heard about it. It is a sheep'.
"I lost it, I had already exposed her face, and said, 'Does a sheep have shoulder-length hair? Does a sheep wear a necklace?'.
"That is when the two officers went and had a look and asked me to stand back."
A police spokesperson said at the time that when officers first attended last Saturday "due to the condition of the vehicle and debris from the fire, did not immediately identify that human remains were in the cabin of the car".
The reserve on River Rd, on the outskirts of Havelock North, is a popular destination for dog walkers and also near some of the area's top vineyards. Photo / Neil Reid
"A subsequent inspection of the vehicle revealed suspected human remains."
After the Herald's story, Eastern Police District Commander Jeanette Park said police would be "reviewing" their initial response.
Park said the condition of the vehicle and debris from the fire meant staff did not immediately identify the human remains.
The River Rd carpark, and part of River Rd, was closed on Monday and part of Tuesday as police forensics experts combed both the carpark and nearby scrub and bush land.
The reserve is a popular area for cyclists and people walking dogs, providing access to the Tukituki River and adjacent cycleways.
But it also was the scene of anti-social behaviour, one local said.
Local winemaker Dr Morton Osborne – a former clinical psychologist - said he had told police officers involved in a ground search around the carpark there had been "unusual car activity" around the carpark over the past few weeks.
He believed the area was also being increasingly used as a hook-up spot for couples, as well as a location where drug deals were done.
River Rd resident and Akarangi Wines' Morton Osborne says the carpark where a body was found has a history of anti-social behaviour. Photo / Neil Reid
He said the carpark had a history of being a place where thieves would take stolen cars, "rarking" them up before torching them.
His rural River Rd property had also been targeted by thieves, including break-ins of sheds and the taking of a trailer, stainless steel tank, chainsaws and an arc welder.
"It is all the joys of living at the end of a no-exit road on the outskirts of town," said Osborne, who has owned and operated Akarangi Wines since 1981.
"It is where people come and bring their surreptitious relationships out here. There have been times when I have had to pull out some notable locals who have been down there with a floozy and got themselves [their vehicle] stuck."
As shock reverberated through the community near some of Hawke's Bay's most prestigious vineyards, another longtime local man said his heart went out to the woman and her family.
Police officers scour scrub on River Rd earlier this week after the grisly discovery. Photo / Neil Reid
"Our thoughts and comments would be the same for most New Zealanders ... just shock, it is appalling and terrible," he said.
"It is a tragedy for everybody concerned. We feel so much for the woman and her family."
He believed it was a "one-off incident" and was totally "out of character" for the place he proudly called home.
"There are hundreds of people who come by here on the weekend, they use the cycleway and use the riverbank. It is very popular for families with kids ... mothers go past here with their babies in a pushchair.
"We have never, ever had any trouble. It's a nice lifestyle area."
