KEY POINTS:
Robbery has been discounted as a motive for the murder of Christchurch prostitute Mellory Manning, as the bag with her night's takings was still slung over her shoulder when her body was found, say police.
It is now more than two weeks since Ms Manning's badly beaten body was pulled from the Avon River.
Her injuries were described by inquiry head Detective Inspector Greg Williams as the worst he had seen in 29 years of police work.
She had been strangled, stabbed in the chest several times and beaten about the head and legs with what appeared to be a piece of reinforcing steel.
Ms Manning was last seen standing on the corner of Manchester and Peterborough streets at 10.33pm on December 18.
Her last text message was sent at 10.43pm to a client that she had seen earlier. Police have spoken to the client.
Hundreds of people had been spoken to during the investigation, but many more were being sought, Mr Williams told The Press.
They included a man who went to a Salvation Army van, near where Ms Manning was last seen, with a stab wound to his leg.
The inquiry team also wanted to talk to about 30 street workers yet to come forward.
Yesterday, police teams searched the Avon River from Kilmore Street down to the Swanns Road bridge.
Police had yet to identify where Ms Manning was attacked or where she had gone into the river.
A knife discovered 150m upstream of Manning's body was still with forensic investigators.
"I'm waiting to hear back from the pathologist because we want to look at one other weapon too," Mr Williams said.
Meanwhile, Ms Manning's brother Robin said his sister had quit working as a prostitute for more than a month before the night she was killed.
She had only gone back on to the streets to pay for more Christmas presents.
"There's definitely people out there with blood on their hands," Mr Manning said.
He was due back at work today while his mother, Sharon, continued to try to put her life back together after losing her two daughters in the space of six months.
In July, Ms Manning's Auckland-based sister, Jasmine, died.
That loss spurred Mellory Manning to try to turn her life around, her brother said.
His sister had been on methadone for about six weeks to try to break a drug habit and had been off the street for at least as long.
"Whoever knows something needs to come forward," Mr Manning said.
- NZPA
