Suspected killer from 'nice family'

An autopsy showed that 70-year-old Barbara Julian died as the result of a brutal attack. Photo / Supplied

Relatives of the 70-year-old teacher killed in Kaitaia know the family of the prime suspect in her murder and say they were nice people.

Last night, detectives took Barbara Julian's two children, John and Donna Julian, through her Matthews St home to see if they could spot anything out of the ordinary in the house.

Her body - which a group of her friends found in the lounge - was expected to be returned to her family last night, after an autopsy showed she died as a result of a brutal attack.

When Mrs Julian was killed, she was preparing nibbles for the group of other widows she met at 4.30pm every Wednesday, her niece Linda Lunjevich said yesterday.

The family suspected her murderer had entered though the back door as the chain had been put across, which Ms Julian usually didn't do. They suspect he left by the front door.

Ms Lunjevich said there was a window of an hour and a half on Wednesday for when police were trying to piece together her aunt's movements.

Mrs Julian had finished getting a massage at a nearby clinic about 3pm and her body was discovered about 4.30pm.

Soon after, Ms Lunjevich's son Paul was told by a friend that Mrs Julian's house was cordoned off, so he went to investigate. He saw a man being arrested on a property a few doors down from the widow's house and phoned his mother. She broke the news to Mrs Julian's children.

An unemployed 17-year-old, who has name suppression, has been charged with unlawfully being on a property. A relative of the boy said he had been kicked out of home and had been living with a variety of people over the past few years.

Ms Lunjevich said she had known a male relative of the boy, among other family members, for at least 25 years.

"They were a nice family... It's a small town. I think my husband worked with him [the relative] at some stage as well. I saw him outside the police station yesterday. He'd heard his great nephew or whatever had done something. He saw me looking distressed and put two and two together."

Police had told the Julian family to prepare themselves for the possibility that a sexual assault had taken place, Ms Lunjevich said.

"The word brutal has been used and that's it. The sexual connotation is there as well.

"When I hear people describe her as an elderly lady, oh my God it just seems weird because she forgot to behave like one," Ms Lunjevich said."She was just vibrant. She was always busy doing things."