Hitchhiker murder suspect arrested after nationwide hunt

Michael Scott Wallace was arrested following a nationwide manhunt.

The chief suspect in the murder of German hitchhiker Birgit Brauer has been arrested in Sanson this evening after a nationwide manhunt.

Police said Michael Scott Wallace, 44, was arrested on a warrant at 7.20pm in Sanson.

The head of the investigation, Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward, said Wallace was located in a 1988 Nissan 4WD Safari motor vehicle reported stolen recently.

Ms Brauer, 28, was found dead in Lucy's Gully north of New Plymouth on September 20.

She had been beaten and stabbed.

She was last seen getting into a Toyota Hilux 4WD.

Wallace had been in possession of a stolen Hilux found abandoned on the banks of the Ohau River near Levin on September 28.

After a public appeal for sightings of Wallace this week, police received hundreds of calls from around the country.

- NZPA