KEY POINTS:
Facial reconstruction may be used in a last-ditch effort to identify the decomposed body of a man found in the Waitakere Ranges, west of Auckland.
The body was well decomposed when it was found in February and police believe it may have been there for up to 20 years after they found car keys and a coke bottle near the body.
Extensive detective work had failed to identify the man and if all else failed, police may look at a forensic reconstruction of his face to get a picture of what he looked like, said Detective Sergeant Roger Small from the Waitakere Police.
He said they were still waiting for a final DNA profile to see if there were any relatives on the police database.
However, Mr Small said police had spent countless hours trying to identify the man and would not spend a lot more time on the case.
"We have eliminated all the likely ones down to the point where there are not the records that are able to help us identify him.
"If we don't get any joy with the DNA we might look at a reconstruction but that is way down the track."
During a facial reconstruction forensic scientists used the skull to rebuild the face by applying clay, knowing how deep the facial tissue was likely to be.
Facial reconstruction has been used rarely in New Zealand to identify a person although it has helped confirm the identity where some clues remained.
In 1990 a decomposed body of a man was found near Waipu Cove in Northland.
His face was reconstructed and scientists produced an image of a bald man with missing teeth and a protruding lower jaw. In spite of the reconstruction and wide publicity, he was not identified.
Mr Small said there was an outside chance of a reconstruction being done.
"We are going to try everything else. We will go down the DNA path first and that will take a couple of months.
"If we don't get anything from the DNA then we will make a decision whether or not we are going to go down the reconstruction (path) or whether it is going to have to be filed as a John Doe."
In the meantime the body would be kept in Auckland's morgue and if it was not identified it was likely to be buried in a pauper's gave
- NZPA
