Former All White not murder victim

Reports that former All Whites player and coach Alex Davie has been murdered at a factory on Australia's Gold Coast have proved to be incorrect.

Australian police yesterday launched a double homicide investigation after a 60-year-old man was discovered dead at the OneSteel recycling plant in Burleigh Heads and a 50-year-old woman was found at a residential home in nearby Robina.

TVNZ today named the man as former All Whites player Alex Davie. But NZ Football confirmed to nzherald.co.nz this afternoon that the murder victim is not the former player.

The former player represented New Zealand 32 times and played with Mt Wellington AFC. Prior to that he had been a goalkeeper in the United Kingdom for Dundee United, Southampton and Luton Town.

He is understood to be in Tauranga today.

Discovery

The Gold Coast Bulletin named the victim as Alexander Davie and said the murdered woman was believed to be his wife.

Workers returning to the factory after Australia's Labour Day long weekend opened for business as usual at 7am local time on Tuesday before making the grisly find two hours later.

Police were called to the factory and later went to a house in nearby Robina about 20 minutes away where the woman's body was found.

Detective Superintendent Dave Hutchinson said it was too early to speculate whether the crime could have been a bungled robbery.

"We're treating both deaths as suspicious and we have reason to believe at this stage there is a connection between the two people involved," he told reporters.

He refused to confirm media reports that the security guard was found in a toilet with his hands bound, but said it was possible he may have been dead on the premises for as long as a day.

"That'll have to be determined by the post-mortem but suggestions are that he could have been there for up to 24 hours," Det Hutchinson said.

He was unsure how long the woman had been dead.

Detectives are interviewing staff, left shell-shocked at their discovery.

Det Hutchinson said both victims were still undergoing formal identification and would not comment on whether they knew each other.

The security guard's work vehicle was found burnt-out on Pine Creek Road at Springbrook.

Investigations are continuing.

- AAP, NZHERALD STAFF