KEY POINTS:
For the past year the bones of a man police know only as John Doe have lain in a drawer at Auckland's mortuary.
A pig hunter's dog discovered the remains last February lying in dense vegetation in the Waitakere Ranges.
When Detective Sergeant Roger Small was called to the scene that day he thought it would be a fairly simple job.
Never for a minute did he imagine Christmas would come and go and John Doe would still be lying at the morgue unidentified - one of the few corpses that have been there that long.
The task of trying to identify the remains started with gathering a basic description of who the person could be. Forensic experts used the bones and other items found near the remains - such as a coin, Coke bottle, cigarette filters and a key - to determine it was a man in his 40s who had died between 1987 and 1992.
From there Mr Small, searched the missing persons database for cases that matched the description and appealed via the media for names.
He came up with 20 to 25 possibilities, which have now been whittled down to just three.
Some of those eliminations were via dental records. In the odd case it was the missing person being discovered alive and well, despite still being in the missing persons database.
A year on and Mr Small is now reaching the end of his options in identifying the man.
His final push lies in trying to match DNA that was extracted from the man's bone marrow with samples in the National DNA Database and in having a facial reconstruction drawn up.
The database holds mainly samples from criminals and was established after the man died.
But Mr Small said there was a small chance that scientists might find a relative.
The other option was a facial reconstruction, from which
a sketch would be made of the man's face and released to the media in the hope of triggering someone's memory.
Mr Small said there was a chance John Doe's real identity would never be known if the DNA matching and facial construction did not work.
If that happened, he would likely be buried in a pauper's grave, possibly at Waikumete Cemetery.
Police say it's rare for a body to be unidentified for so long.
* John Doe
Gender: Male, based on shape of pelvic bones.
Age: 25-50 but probably in his 40s, based on the growth plates in bones.
Height: About 172cm based on the length of his thigh bone.
Build: Heavy and muscular, based on muscle markings on bones.
Probably a smoker: Based on a packet of cigarette filters found with his skeleton.
Probably an asthmatic: Based on an inhaler found with him.
Died: Between 1987 and 1992 based on coins and a Coke bottle found with his remains. None of the coins was minted after 1987 and the shape of the Coke bottle wasn't made or sold in shops after 1992.
Cause of death: Probably suicide, based on pill packets found scattered around the skeleton.
