Police murder squad probes footsteps in the night

Katrina Jefferies

Katrina Jefferies left the Hillsborough home she shared with her mother and young son on Sunday night to meet friends.

The fact that she did not arrive back that night or ring to say she would not be home was not unusual. Her mother cared for the 20-month-old boy and Ms Jefferies, 22, was free to come and go, socialise and visit family in other parts of Auckland.

She did not contact home on Monday. Early the next day, her partly clothed body was found in bush in Waikowhai Park.

Police say her murder is a "whodunnit homicide".

Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley would not comment on whether she had been sexually assaulted but said she had suffered injuries to her upper body. The cause of death has not been released.

Police were yesterday investigating an early-morning commotion in the street where Ms Jefferies lived, and appealed for any sightings of her after she left home on Sunday.

A disturbance in the early hours of Tuesday morning woke a resident in Whitmore Rd. He looked outside but did not see anything.

Ms Jefferies' body was found down a bush-clad bank a few hours later in nearby Waikowhai Park by two men walking a dog about 8.30am.

Mr Whitley would not say what the resident heard or the exact time of the commotion.

"He didn't see what was happening, he could only hear, so we don't know exactly where it's coming from but it's somewhere round that area."

A resident told the Herald that footsteps running down the street woke her in the early hours of Tuesday.

Noise from parties and people at the Richardson Rd end of the street often travelled up to houses near the intersection with Hillsborough Rd, she said.

Mr Whitley said the commotion might not be linked to the murder, but he called it a significant development.

Police believe Ms Jefferies' body, which was several metres down the bank off Waikowhai Rd, would have been seen by people in the busy reserve if it had been there during the day on Monday.

Ms Jefferies was unemployed but had recently described herself as a skilled worker. She had been an assistant groundsperson at a school in the past.

Her distressed mother has been helping police to piece together a picture of her life.

She did not have a boyfriend and had no contact with the father of her child.

Mr Whitley said Ms Jefferies had been "unwell", but he would not elaborate on her condition.

"That is a personal thing with the family."

Ms Jefferies would visit friends and socialise but her mother was yesterday unsure what she was wearing when she left home. She did not own a cellphone and was not thought to carry a bag, police said.

A spokeswoman last night said police did not have any suspects but did have a list of persons of interest to speak to. The father of Ms Jefferies' child was on that list. Police knew who he was and where he lived.

A number of items were found in the bush near the body but none was a weapon.