KEY POINTS:
Police have charged a 35-year-old unemployed Caucasian man with the murder of deaf Christchurch woman Emma Agnew.
Police made the announcement just after 4pm, after earlier taking the shaven headed man into custody following his arrest at the 150 room Wigram Lodge apartment complex at 12.25pm.
Police said they had been following a variety of leads for several days but offered no further information on how they located the accused.
They also said the man was not known to Miss Agnew.
Asked if the accused was a Christchurch man, Detective Inspector Tom Fitzgerald told NZPA he "moved around" the South Island.
He said the man would appear in Christchurch District Court tomorrow.
Police have cordoned the house where the man was arrested which is now being treated as a crime scene.
Police thanked the public for providing information which assisted in the arrest, and have now spoken with the Agnew family about the developments in the case.
Further charges may be laid.
Earlier, police arrested a shaven headed man who had been hiding in a third floor apartment, but was not a tenant.
The manager of the complex, John Hannah, said he was aware a police raid was going to take place.
"Police contacted me this morning and said they were going to come and search the lodge," Mr Hannah said.
When they arrived, seven armed police with dogs went to a room on the third floor of the complex.
"They smashed down a door on the third floor," Mr Hannah said.
Police then used incendiary devices to pacify the suspect.
Liz Harris, the owner of the Wigram Lodge, said dozens of police raided the building in a "controlled operation".
Police have now turned the third floor room into a crime scene.
"We have 158 tenants of all ages and walks of life. He (the arrested man) wasn't a tenant. I assume he was a friend of the person whose room he was in," Mrs Harris said.
She said police broke down the door of the room and threw something in to stun the man.
"One tenant two doors along got a bit of a fright. A few people got a bit of a fright to come face-to-face with the armed offenders squad.
"It was a pretty controlled operation though. They surrounded the whole building, a helicopter hovered above, there were police dogs and there were dozens and dozens of armed offenders and police officers."
