Body of woman dumped in bush still not identified

The identity of a woman whose body was found down a bank in bush remained a mystery today for Auckland police involved in a homicide inquiry.

However, they have established she was Caucasian and is thought to have been aged in her early to mid 20s.


The body was discovered by two men walking a dog along Waikowhai Rd in the suburb of Hillsborough yesterday morning.

The bank where the body lay was steep, making it difficult for police to reach, and a cherry picker was used to help to remove it from the scene about 6.30pm yesterday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley said the focus of the inquiry today would be to try to identify the women.

"That could still be some way away," he said.

"We haven't had any good matching missing-person descriptions at the moment."

A post-mortem examination is under way.

Mr Whitley repeated his appeal for members of the public who had a relative or friend missing to call the number the Operation Waikowhai team had set up -- 0800-924569.

Police had received a couple of calls, which they were following up.

Mr Whitley said the body had probably been left at the scene "quite recently".

He described the woman as between 16 and 40, while her ethnicity was difficult to specify.

He said she had had "some clothes" on her, but declined to elaborate.

The cause of her death or what injuries she might have suffered were not yet known.

Waikowhai Rd is close to Manukau Harbour and the adjacent Waikowhai Park is often used by fishermen to gain access to the harbour.

But Mr Whitley believed the case was not connected with the body in a net that two fisherman last week reported hooking up in their anchor before it dropped back into the water.

"From what we have been able to see, I would think it is very highly unlikely that it is connected in any way."

- NZPA