A specialist police search team yesterday sifted the scene in the Hawke's Bay beachside community of Haumoana, looking for clues that may lead to the killer of farmer Jack Nicholas.
Mr Nicholas, 71, was shot outside his isolated homestead in Puketitiri in August 2004.
Detective Senior Sergeant Bill Gregory, who heads Napier CIB, said yesterday's search was simply the latest phase in an inquiry that had been going on for 20 months.
"Over recent months police have been reviewing the investigation file and carrying out some selective interviews," he told NZPA.
"New information has come to hand, which is being followed up."
He said the address in Haumoana had been searched previously but stressed that the occupants had no connection to the inquiry.
"They moved in since it was last searched."
A specialist search team was called in because of the long period that had elapsed since the murder.
He said it would be "speculative to speculate" as to the outcome of the current avenue of inquiry.
"We're no less resolved now than we were in August 2004.
"We've had a number of avenues of inquiry opened up to us over last 20 months; none of those has resulted in locating the person responsible, but we're always hopeful the next one will."
Last year, a man claiming to be an accessory to the unsolved killing was unmasked as a fraud.
The man had offered information about the death in return for a $50,000 reward offered by the Sensible Sentencing Trust and immunity from prosecution.
Items recovered during the murder inquiry were sent to the United Kingdom for analysis but did not yield any results.
Police were hopeful that technological advances could lead to a future breakthrough.
- NZPA
Police investigating 20-month-old murder search property again
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.