Nissan is focus of Tirohanga homicide inquiry

Police are focusing on the movements of a Nissan car in a homicide investigation launched after a man's body was found in a burned-out house in Tirohanga, north of Taupo.

The body has not been formally identified but police are reasonably certain it is that of 35-year-old farm worker Stephen George, who lived at the house and is missing.

Identification using DNA taken from the body is likely to take up to two weeks. The cause of the fire on October 9 is yet to be established.

Taupo police launched a homicide investigation on Friday after Mr George's 1993 grey Nissan Primera saloon was found burned and with the number plates missing near Mangakino, about 30km northwest of Tirohanga.

Mr George's wife and four children live in Te Awamutu and he regularly visited them, but lived alone in Tirohanga for his job.

Detective Sergeant Dave Beattie said yesterday that the inquiry was now focused on sightings of the Nissan, registration YO6136.

He said Mr George left Kihikihi, just south of Te Awamutu, at 1.15am on the day the house at Tirohanga burned down. It was reported to be on fire at 4.15am.

The drive from Kihikihi to Tirohanga was 100km and took about an hour, he said.

Police searched for the Primera until Friday, when they were told it was on a forestry road 10km north of Mangakino.

"We were informed of that isolated location by a witness who had first seen the vehicle burnt out the day before," Mr Beattie said.

He urged people who had seen the vehicle in the days after the fire to contact police. "We want to piece together the movement of Stephen's car between Sunday the 9th and Thursday the 13th."

Mr George's father, Roger, told the Herald on Sunday that his son usually drove from Te Awamutu, via Mangakino, across the Whakamaru Dam, and then used a forestry road to reach Tirohanga, 40km north of Taupo.

* Police have set up a hotline - 0800 STAR 09 (0800 782-709) for people to call with information.