Police 'have information on grandmother's killer'

Flowers were left outside the pensioner flats where Mona Morriss was murdered. Picture / Alan Gibson

Two months into the Mona Morriss murder inquiry, police claim they have the information to identify her killer.

Mrs Morriss, 83, was found dead in her Wellington Rd, Marton, flat on January 6. Police said she died of stab wounds.

"We have a mountain of information to still work through," inquiry head Detective Sergeant Tim Smith said.

"I believe the identity of the killer is somewhere within it. I can't put a time limit on when we would have processed all the information or when the forensics will be processed.

"I can't judge the time period that this case will take."

On Friday night police searched two addresses in the Rangitikei town and interviewed two men, Mr Smith said.

One of them was one of the last people to see Mrs Morriss alive, and the other was a close associate.

The two men were each other's alibis, and further information was needed before they could be eliminated from the inquiry.

Forensic samples from the search were not back yet, but Mr Smith said nothing of note was found at the addresses and he was confident the men were not responsible for the killing.

"It's good that they co-operated. Now we can go forward and catch the real killer."

Twenty to 25 police were still involved in the inquiry, and there were over 150 names still to be crossed off the list of possible suspects, he said.

Mr Smith disagreed with the Sensible Sentencing Trust's suggestion of a reward.

"My position on a reward is that they are done at the end of an investigation when all the information has been gone through and when you're left hitting your head against a brick wall. It is too early in the investigation.

"I would also like to think that people are disgusted with the violent killing of Mona and they wouldn't be withholding information for monetary value," Mr Smith said.

- NZPA