Rain washes away crime scene

Napier police have suffered a setback in their investigation into the death of a person, who was burnt beyond recognition, as the crime scene has been washed away by rising river water.

Police launched the homicide inquiry after the discovery of a body in a burned out car near the Napier suburb of Taradale late yesterday afternoon.

A passerby found the car hidden in a bush by a river off Dartmore Road in Puketapu, near Taradale, around 4pm and called emergency services.

Detective Sergeant Mike Foster said today the blue Holden Calais in which the body was found was owned by a 40-year-old Taradale man who had been missing since Anzac Day.

But he said the body was burnt so badly they would not be able to identify it for quite some time.

Added to that, the crime scene has been completely washed away by the rising river, he said.

"So that's gone, but it was looked at yesterday and there was certainly nothing of interest at the scene, apart from the car obviously."

However, Mr Foster said if there was anything interesting "it's now gone".

"There is a hell of a torrent coming straight through -- it was rising quite rapidly yesterday when the police were there," he said.

The Met Service issued a heavy rain warning for the region today and were predicting about 60mm of rain to fall.

The forecast is for heavy showers to last into this evening before easing.

Mr Foster said police had spoken with the family of the missing man, "but we've still got to identify exactly who it is, and that could take a while".

- NZPA