KEY POINTS:
Russian police have started a homicide investigation after the discovery of a body, believed to be that of an Auckland woman last seen in a Moscow hotel more than two weeks ago.
Pamela Crane failed to arrive at Auckland Airport on June 10 after travelling in China and on to the Russian capital.
Auckland Airport police inquiries revealed Mrs Crane did not board the plane, but had not changed her travel plans.
Her son had been due to pick her up from the airport in Auckland but found she was not on the flight.
Police and diplomatic staff from New Zealand, Russia and Britain searched for Mrs Crane, starting from the last confirmed sighting of her, at the Izmailovo Vega Hotel, in Moscow, on May 29.
The head of New Zealand's national missing persons unit, Detective Sergeant Liam Clinton, said last night that a body believed to be that of Mrs Crane had been found.
He would not say where the body was found, as it was "sensitive to the inquiry".
Some of the details police had received about her death were "not too nice", Mr Clinton said.
He told Radio New Zealand today police were not keen to discuss them out of respect for her family and that Russian police had asked to keep the release of details here to a minimum.
The death of 72-year-old Mrs Crane, of Pakuranga, is being treated as suspicious.
"The family have been informed that a body has been located and it's believed to be their mother."
Mr Clinton said police hoped to have a formal identification by late today.
"We're going through a process to firm that up but these things take a bit of time, unfortunately.
"We're relying on forensic identification, like dental records."
New Zealand police were liaising with Russian investigators and the British Embassy in Russia.
Mrs Crane, whose occupation is listed as teacher, travelled on a British passport, although she lived in New Zealand for 30 years.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Interpol were also involved in the investigation.
Mrs Crane was last seen at the Izmailovo Vega Hotel on May 29, and Herald inquiries found she had stayed there on May 27 and 28.
Hotel records show Mrs Crane used the internet at 8.28am on May 28, and paid for her breakfast at 9.23am the same day.
Because guests needed only to leave their key to check out, it was not known what time Mrs Crane left the hotel, an employee said.
She said the only certainty was Mrs Crane left the hotel some time before "room keepers" went into her room at 11.27am on May 29.
British High Commission staff found Mrs Crane's bags at the hotel.
The hotel is in "one of the greenest and most ecologically favourable districts of Moscow", says its website, and has "an active complex security system to protect our guests".
Mrs Crane's brother, Terry Stretton, who also lives in Auckland, said his sister left New Zealand about a month ago on a tour of China, before going to Moscow.
She had intended visiting a monastery on May 29, but did not meet a contact that night.
A missing-person post to a Russian travel website says Mrs Crane could have travelled by public transport to the town of Sergiev Posad, about an hour outside Moscow.
The town is well known for its religious history.
Her family thought it was strange she had not made contact with them, but assumed it was because she was nearing the end of her trip or had no internet access, he said.
Mrs Crane has three adult children in New Zealand and another overseas.
- additional reporting: Maggie McNaughton, NZPA
