Body in bush spurs murder hunt

By Rosaleen MacBrayne

TAURANGA - The discovery of a woman's battered body dumped under a mattress in a rural gully near Tauranga early yesterday has sparked a full-scale murder investigation.

"There is evidence of a great deal of violence at the scene," said Detective Inspector Graham Bell, who is heading the inquiry.

He confirmed the victim had been savagely attacked and had head injuries. Police were expecting results today of an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

The victim was Jo-Anne van Duyvenbooden, aged 32, a sickness beneficiary.

She had been living in a cottage on a 2.4ha farmlet off Waikite Rd, above Welcome Bay. The nearest neighbours are nearly half a kilometre away.

Mr Bell said the woman's female flatmate, who had been to an out-of-town concert, arrived home about 3.30 am yesterday to find signs of an intruder. She called friends, who telephoned the police when they discovered the house had been ransacked.

A search revealed the body down a bank about 50m from the cottage. The double mattress from her bed was on top of her and her car had also been pushed down the bank, Mr Bell said.

Other items strewn around the large property appeared to be connected to the crime and police faced a "mammoth task" combing the farmlet for evidence.

Mr Bell could not say if the woman had been killed inside or outside the house. There was no weapon "at this stage."

He appealed to the public to report anything that might have aroused suspicions in the Waikite Rd area on Tuesday night or early yesterday.

"Someone may have seen vehicles coming and going," he said.

The property, surrounded by paddocks and hills, is about lkm off Waikite Rd, down an unsealed driveway. It remained under police guard overnight.

Neighbour Karen Summerhays said the owners of the farmlet had rented the place out about April and she did not know the new residents.

"I didn't have anything to do with them. That's why you live in the country, isn't it?"