A body found floating off Raumati Beach this morning has been identified as that of a 77-year-old reported missing several hours later.
Kapiti police say the death is not being treated as suspicious. The elderly woman did not have any physical injuries.
Walkers on the beach noticed the fully-clad body floating metres offshore just before 8am.
A woman called police about 11.20am to say she had visited her mother's house, to find no-one home and the door left open.
Police later named the woman as Maria Josephine Bayliss.