KEY POINTS:
The mother of the woman whose naked and decomposing body was found on the side of a Waikato Highway has told friends and family not to hold any animosity towards her daughter's killer.
The murdered woman was yesterday named as South Auckland woman Rowena Kopara, a 35-year-old mother of three children in their late teens and early 20s.
One of her teenaged children is adopted out and living in the Waikato, while a daughter is thought to be returning from Australia.
Yesterday, as news of the death spread, friends and family gathered at her mother's Clendon home to offer condolences and begin preparations for a tangi.
An aunt, who did not want to be named, said the family were in shock and felt it was too early to talk about Ms Kopara's life.
"All we were told by her mum was to have no animosity towards whoever has done it."
Detective Inspector Peter Devoy, the officer heading the investigation, said Ms Kopara died a violent death sometime between January 20 and Sunday night when a motorcyclist found her body at the back of a layby on State Highway 27.
Police have not said how the woman was killed. Mr Devoy indicated the extent of decomposition complicated the process of establishing the cause of death.
Police did not comment on whether they are looking for a weapon but spent yesterday searching the layby, nearby Piako River and scrub.
The investigation team has been boosted to 50 and detectives are focusing on trying to learn more about Ms Kopara's life, including her final movements and what she was wearing the last time anyone saw her alive.
That was on the morning of Saturday, January 20, when she was visiting relatives in Otara.
It is not, however, clear if that is the day she vanished as she was not reported missing by family, even after publicity about an unidentified woman's body being discovered on Sunday night.
Police said they identified Ms Kopara through DNA and fingerprints they had on file, then told her family.
They would not say why they had her details.
Mr Devoy appealed to the public for any information that might help, including sightings of any vehicles seen near the layby.
He said it was too early to say if she was killed at the scene or killed elsewhere and dumped there, but a vehicle was probably used either way.
* Anyone with information is asked to call a special police line 0800 OP DUKE (0800 67 3853).
