Police have confirmed a fire at a Manuwatū property connected to Muriwai’s death was deliberately lit.
The fire occurred before 6pm on September 15, the same day Muriwai’s mum organised a convoy search supported by locals.
Sinister warning messages have been left outside the burnt-down property linked to missing woman Breanna Muriwai, more than two years after she was last seen.
Police have confirmed a fire at the Manuwatū property was deliberately lit after they recovered what they believe to be a “crude incendiary device” from the property.
The Rangiwahia Rd section lies abandoned and jumbled, without so much as a line of police tape to indicate it was the centre of a private search and a police arson investigation less than a week ago.
The ramshackle property looks more like a dumping ground than a place where anyone might have once lived.
Peppered with the bodies of rusted-out cars, piles of rubbish and recycling, and various assortments of junk, it’s unclear if its topsy-turvy state is a result of the private search last Sunday, or if it has always been this way.
The property at Rangwahia where a search related to Breanna Muriwai, and a suspicious fire took place. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The burnt husks of two buildings on the land, believed to be a shed and a house, are all that remains of any residence.
Outside the front gate, which appears to have been taken off its hinges, are piles of stuffed plastic bags, a rusty saw, dirty spades and a blackened, rusted supermarket trolley.
You could drive right past, assuming it’s just another property left to go to ruin with nothing more to it, but a sign outside, welcoming visitors to Rangiwahia, holds a clue that there are rumours of something more sinister tied to this spot.
“BEWARE!” is written on the bottom of the sign in mud. Other messages in blue pen have been scribbled around it.
“BEWARE!! Murder victim disposal facility,” says one message.
“Police protected trap house!!” reads another.
Emergency services were called to the rural settlement of Rangiwahia, about 20km from Mangaweka, after reports of a fire on September 15.
A Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) spokeswoman said they received calls to a house fire about 5.50pm. Fire crews found a single house and shed on fire.
“It was unoccupied at the time,” the spokeswoman said.
Breanna Muriwai was last seen at Te Horo Beach near the car parking area on Sea Rd about 4am on August 28.
The property is just down the road from the Rangiwahia centre.
It’s comprised of a scattering of houses, a civil defence centre, a tidy playground and a basketball court with no hoop.
Further along, there is a small white Anglican church with a steepled roof, and beyond that a half dirt, half gravel road leading to an out-of-sight cemetery.
Despite the isolated location and quiet buildings with darkened windows in the centre, there is a buzz of activity in the air.
The hum of a tractor in the distance, the grunting and calling of cows, the wind rustling through the trees around the place where Muriwai’s loved ones say they found “items of interest” relating to her disappearance.
One local man said he spent Sunday helping to care for the search group and providing hot drinks for them. He said the community was sad for Muriwai’s family, but did not want to comment further.
Another local said there were maybe 40 to 50 people at the property on Sunday.
A sign in Rangiwahia has been vandalised with messages relating to missing woman Breanna Muriwai. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.
