'Farewell ... You'll always be one of us'

"A last farewell ... May your last journey be nice and peaceful," said the note left with a small bouquet near the entrance to bush where Birgit Brauer's body was found a fortnight ago.

"You'll always be one of us," two backpackers had written in German and English.

The officer heading the homicide inquiry, Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward, found the tribute yesterday when he returned to Lucys Gully, near New Plymouth.

Police say they are making good progress in the hunt for the killer of the 28-year-old German hitchhiker, whose body was found stabbed and beaten.

That progress includes finding her two backpacks at Lake Rotokare on Monday and last week recovering a Toyota Hilux which matches the description of the vehicle Ms Brauer was last seen getting into.

The results of forensic tests that police hope will link the 4WD to the murder are expected this week.

Mr Coward said he was confident Ms Brauer's killer would be caught.

"Although the past two weeks of the investigation have been dramatic for all the police who are [involved], we are making steady progress," he said.

"Everyone in this country wants to see the killer ... brought to justice and all of my police investigation team are confident we will do that."

Mr Coward said the note was touching and it showed how the callousness of the murder had affected everyone.

It is perhaps for that reason that police have been swamped with hundreds of calls from people who are keen to help catch the killer.

Some have named possible suspects. Many others have reported sightings of the Hilux that Mr Coward maintains is the key to solving the case.

What police have been able to establish so far is that Ms Brauer got into a dark-coloured, two-door Hilux at Waitotara about 9.30am on Tuesday, September 20. From there the vehicle was seen at Hawera, Opunake and at Lucys Gully at 1pm. It was then seen at the Wiremu and Newall Rds intersection at Warea.

About 5pm, as a jogger was discovering Ms Brauer's body in the bush, the Hilux was seen at a reserve in Cardiff, 70km away.

After that there were no sightings for three days.

On Friday the 23rd, at 10.30am, a member of the public saw a Hilux matching the description of the vehicle police were looking for at Lake Rotokare.

On the night of Monday, September 26, residents near Levin noticed a Hilux being dumped at the Ohau River.

Mr Coward said police wanted to hear from anyone who saw the vehicle before or after the Lake Rotokare sighting.

He said assistance from the public so far had been phenomenal.

* Did you see the Hilux before or after it was at Lake Rotokare? Phone 0800 CRIMESTOP (0800-274-637).