KEY POINTS:
United States Marshals yesterday issued a wanted notice for alleged murderer Nai Yin Xue, but conceded he could now be anywhere.
But that notice - which is being circulated to about 17,000 law enforcement officials across the US - incorrectly described the Chinese-born immigrant as having been born in New Zealand of both Pacific Island and Chinese extraction.
The issuing of the notice - with a public appeal for information - came at a press conference by New Zealand and US police in Los Angeles yesterday. The briefing was attended mainly by New Zealand, Australian and LA-Chinese media, but US television crews such as NBC were also there.
Superintendent Neville Matthews, police liaison officer at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, is in Los Angeles to assist US authorities in the hunt for Xue.
New Zealand police have copped criticism for their handling of the case, but the man leading the US end of the investigation - US Marshal Chief Inspector Tom Hession - would not be drawn on the topic.
"We've had nothing but co-operation. They immediately started providing us with everything they could think of and what we could ask for and they have continued that right up until now and [will] until we apprehend this person."
Xue has been described by US investigators as "armed and dangerous", but Mr Hession said the warning was "generic" and not based on any evidence.
However, Xue's martial arts expertise meant he was a danger to the marshals hunting him.
Mr Hession said he was confident Xue would be caught, and described yesterday's public appeal as a tool in the search.
Mr Hession said US marshals were aware of a woman - Qiu Yan Xu - with whom Xue is understood to have had a short relationship during a visit to the US in 2000, but would not say if they had found her.
He said there was no evidence to suggest Xue had left Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, police in New Zealand yesterday confirmed the ceremonial sword they returned to Xue the morning he fled the country was not involved in the murder. It was found, still in an evidence bag, in the car he drove to Auckland Airport.
A team of at least 30 officers remained working on the case in New Zealand where scene examinations on several addresses continued.
Mr Matthews also called on New Zealand's Chinese community to phone in with information about Xue "no matter how small" to the Chinese-speaking police trainees staffing the information line.
