KEY POINTS:
Armed police have arrested three men and charged them with the murder of Peri Niwa, who was found dead at a party in New Plymouth on Sunday.
Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward said the "arrests were made without incident".
He said that the three men aged 21, 37 and 38 would appear in the New Plymouth District Court this afternoon.
Mr Coward said police still want to speak to people who were at the party.
Yesterday police said they were looking for four people who chased Mr Niwa before the 31-year-old was killed early on Sunday morning.
NZPA reported that dozens of young people, aged between 17 and 25, were believed to have been at a "text" party on Blagdon Road at the time leading up to Mr Niwa's death.
Several of those partygoers were believed to have got into a violent confrontation near the Blagdon shops with a group that included Mr Niwa.
It was believed several partygoers chased Mr Niwa down a long driveway on Squire Place.
"There are possibly up to four, it could be more," Mr Coward told the Taranaki Daily News last night.
He confirmed Mr Niwa's death was being treated as a homicide.
A number of people at the party had come forward, but police said there were many that had not yet made themselves known.
Mr Niwa's body was removed from the property overnight on Sunday and taken to Palmerston North for a post mortem examination.
Police canvassed neighbours in the area yesterday and appealed for anyone with information about the party or saw anything that night to contact them.
Mr Coward would not disclose the result of the autopsy "for investigative reasons".
- NZ HERALD STAFF & NZPA
