KEY POINTS:
Police have launched a homicide investigation following the discovery of a man's body in central Hamilton.
The corpse was found at the back of the Riverbank Mall in Victoria St on Saturday evening, but had yet to be formally identified last night.
Police have ruled out any connection to the city's serial rapist.
They said they believed they knew who the dead man was and, if they were correct, he was in his mid-20s with "local links".
They stopped short of calling the death a murder, but said it was suspicious.
The body was removed from the scene yesterday afternoon and taken to Auckland for an autopsy.
Detectives scoured a walled area at the back of the vacant mall before and after it was removed. Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Nicholls said it was too early to comment on the cause of death.
"We're painting with a fairly broad brush, and as you can appreciate with inquiries like this, it takes a little bit of time to get the full facts before we can determine the direction of the inquiry."
He said the dead man was a Maori, and a karakia (prayer) was performed before the body was removed.
A police iwi liaison officer was involved and entered a cordon around the rear of the mall which was put in place after the body was found at 6.30pm.
The disused mall borders an apartment building and SkyCity casino on one side and a Wilson carpark and two bars on the other side.
The Waikato River lies directly to the east, and part of the river walkway was initially cordoned off.
People came and went from the busy carpark yesterday as detectives and forensic experts in protective suits worked inside the cordon.
Adam Kemp, who lives in an apartment building next to the bars, said he and his flatmates were woken by police about 10am asking if they knew about the body.
He said the carpark overflowed with young people on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and he had been involved in trying to settle a dispute between a guy and his partner over a bottle of wine there on Thursday night.
* Tauranga police are investigating a stabbing at a 21st birthday party.
A 23-year-old man is due to appear in the Tauranga District Court today after allegedly stabbing a 31-year-old man multiple times at the party in Merivale on Saturday.
The victim suffered a punctured lung and was admitted to hospital, but Senior Sergeant Rob Glencross said he was likely to make a full recovery.
Mr Glencross urged anyone who witnessed the stabbing to contact Tauranga police on (07) 577-4300.
