Pair may have lain dead for hours

Family members outside the house in Henderson last night. Picture / Greg Bowker

Two people whose bodies were found in a West Auckland garage yesterday may have been dead for several hours before they were found by a relative.

The bodies of the 41-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, believed to be brother and sister, were found in the garage where the man lived behind a house in Harrington Road, Henderson.

Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

The woman was last seen having a meal in Auckland City shortly after midnight yesterday, about 17 hours before the two bodies were found.

Detective Senior Sergeant John Sutton said police did not know what she had been doing in those 17 hours.

He said the investigation was still in its early stages. A gun was found in the garage near the bodies but he would not say what type of gun it was or how many shots had been fired.

Police hoped to remove the two bodies later today for a post mortem examination and formal identification.

The dead woman lived in the house.

Mr Sutton said police were "keeping an open mind" about the killings but said it did not appear anyone else was involved.

"But we still have to go through and make sure this isn't something more sinister," he said.

Mr Sutton said the family was going through an "awful distressful time" and had been helping police.

- NZPA