Inside Christchurch's house of horrors

The unidentified woman found buried under the house is believed to be Tisha Lowry. Photo / Supplied

The postmortem on the body of a woman removed from a house in Wainoni,
Christchurch, yesterday, is taking place today, police say.

It is likely that the second woman's body will not to be removed from the scene until tomorrow.

"I'd expect it to be very late tomorrow," said Detective Inspector Tom
Fitzgerald.

"There is still a detailed scene examination taking place."

The family living next door to the house of horrors confronted the murder accused who owns it after finding the interior "covered in bloodstains" two years ago.

Shanita Araipu and her partner Jason Hall used to rent the house in Wainoni, where police found two bodies on Friday, for their sons.

The 32-year-old owner has been charged with murder after the bodies of his 35-year-old wife and another woman, believed to be missing neighbour Tisha Lowry, were discovered under a manhole.

Just a few centimetres of wall separate Araipu and her family from the house - and since police began tearing up floorboards that has not been enough to keep out the smell of decay.

"They make that creaky sound, it sounds like people crying - it smells like rotten meat, since they started removing the floor," she said.

The semi-detached home on one of Christchurch's most notorious streets has become a national object of fascination.

Even the family of Doug Gardiner, buried in his own backyard after being murdered by wife Gay Oakes in 1994, came by for a look.

For Araipu, Hall and their six children, the crime is so close to home they can literally smell it.

"You can smell the death," said Araipu. "I was dry retching. The smell is horrific."

She said the accused and his wife bought the house about three years ago. They lived in it for the first year, then moved to Taupo for 12 months before returning to Christchurch.

While they were away Araipu rented the house for her two sons and said it was "covered in bloodstains".

"Every single room had damage. There were holes in the walls and none of the doors had door handles - except the cupboard where the manhole is," she said.

"There were bloodstains on the ground - they were covered with rubbish. There was a lot of blood on one of the bedroom floors - and spattered on door frames. It was before Tisha went missing though."

The accused's house has an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area downstairs and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.

The manhole through which the bodies were found was in a cupboard under the stairs.

After Araipu complained about the state of the house, the accused rang her to say the blood came from his dog.

"My sons fixed up the house but we took photos of the damage in case he tried to make us pay for it."

Araipu said Tisha, who lived two doors away with her grandfather Harry Paul, knew the accused but did not like him - she sat on her deck and hurled abuse at him.

The last time Araipu saw the accused and his wife was last Saturday.

"They got out of the car and she looked really sad. Her head was down. I heard banging that night. There was always banging but there was a really big bang."

The last known sighting of the woman alive was last Sunday morning.

Araipu said the couple did not appear loving and she never met their children, who had apparently been taken by Child Youth and Family.

"She told me that she loved her children and she was going to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings so she could get them back.

"She told me their children were taken by CYF before they came here."

However, Araipu also said she saw prostitutes visit the house - and believed one stayed for about three days.

"My older kids would be outside having a smoke and ask the women 'Who are you?' and they would say who they were.

"They were open about it."

She said the accused was not working and was doing a building course.

"He built arcade games too. He had heaps of them upstairs."

The family were unaware of the police interest in the house until a text message alerted Araipu that their home was on the television news.

Since then, the couple have sent their children to stay with friends and family - and Araipu said she did not want them back at the house until police had removed the bodies.

"We can't go back there, the kids are terrified. There are bodies under that house, it feels horrible in there," Araipu said, shaking at the thought of spending another night at home.

Sleeping was impossible, because of the police working at the property 24 hours a day.

"They were drilling and wrenching up floor boards and there was a lot of banging. We had to have the TV volume [on high] just to block it out."

The Herald on Sunday visited Araipu's home and the vibration from police cutting parts of the house away next door could be felt through her living area.

Detective Inspector Tom Fitzgerald said other missing person cases would be considered by the investigation team.

"I can't give you a number. I can tell you that we will be looking at anything that is relevant to area, history of this [accused] person and anything else that is relevant."

He said the first body, removed from the house about 6pm yesterday, was found a couple of feet below the surface. Police know the general location of the second body but have yet to fully excavate it.

Fitzgerald did not believe there were any further bodies under the house.

"To get where we need to be we've had to dismantle part of the house. Every single item will be examined."

As of last night, no further charges have been laid against the accused, whose name was suppressed when he appeared before Christchurch District Court on Friday.

The man, who has no previous convictions and was not known to police, reported his wife missing last Sunday. The Herald on Sunday understands just a few days later police received information that his wife was dead and under the floorboards.

A friend of the dead woman said she was a "solitary" person who had pulled away from her family over the years.

Her parents and older sister, who live in Australia, did not want to comment yesterday.

A friend said they were planning on flying to New Zealand next week.

"When I spoke to her parents they didn't seem too bad, I think it was still sinking in for them."

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Rebecca Lewis