Police set up roadblock where murdered German last seen

Police yesterday released this photo of Birgit Brauer in Queenstown.

Police were this morning stopping traffic in the South Taranaki town where German hitchhiker Birgit Brauer was last seen alive a week ago.

The 28-year-old tourist was seen getting into a vehicle at Waitotara, on State Highway 3, 34km northwest of Wanganui, about 9.30am last Tuesday.

Police have identified the vehicle as a mid-to-late 1980s model 4WD, two-door, dark grey or black, Toyota Hilux.

Ms Brauer died from multiple injuries, including significant head injuries and a stab wound to the chest.

Her body was found by a jogger near Lucy's Gully in Egmont National Park last Tuesday evening.

Today investigation head Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward, of New Plymouth police, told NZPA a police team was setting up a road block for about an hour today at Waitotara around the time Ms Brauer was last seen.

The main aim was to find anyone who may have been on the road at the same time last week and may have seen something, Mr Coward said.

At the same time police were concentrating on checking the vehicles reported to them that fitted the description of the one seen picking Ms Brauer up.

Hundreds of Hilux 4WDs are registered to owners between Wanganui and New Plymouth.

Police had received a "huge" response to the call for reports of such vehicles, Mr Coward said.

"It's just a matter of going through them all and eliminating them, basically. We're doing that with some haste.

"The guys are working hard and visiting people who own these vehicles all over Taranaki and Wanganui. We're going to continue that today and in the next few days."

There was an "inference" that the vehicle which picked up Ms Brauer had gone onto SH45, the coastal highway to New Plymouth, at Hawera rather than continue on SH3.

"We're not 100 (per cent) on that but we certainly have an inference that that is the case because we've had no sightings on SH3 but we've had unconfirmed ones on SH45," Mr Coward said.

Police had been told of reported sightings of a vehicle fitting the description of the one being sought at Hawera about 10.15am and Opunake about 11.30am.

There was also an inference that the killer was a Taranaki resident because he or she had been in the area.

- NZPA