KEY POINTS:
Police investigating the murder of Scottish backpacker Karen Aim are now convinced her killer was also responsible for a "frenzied" window smashing spree at a Taupo college near where her bloodied body was found.
The inquiry team is now focused on locating the weapon used to puncture the
reinforced glass of 18 windows at Taupo Nui-A-Ti a College, believing the same instrument was used to inflict Miss Aim's severe head injuries.
The 26-year-old was found semi-conscious on a street corner a short distance from the school early on Thursday morning. She died soon after in Taupo Hospital before being able to reveal details of her assailant to police.
Inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner said the person or people responsible for vandalising the school were now the primary suspects.
"We've had three days for the people responsible for this damage to approach us, I'm fast beginning to believe the person responsible for this damage is responsible for an equally violent attack on Karen," Mr Turner told reporters as he surveyed one of the damaged buildings.
He renewed an appeal for anyone who saw of heard any noise in the vicinity of the school grounds to contact police reasoning it was a sustained attack on the property.
"Considerable effort would have been needed to break the glass. I'd describe this as a frenzied attack on the school, it would have created considerable noise and would have taken a little while," he said.
Miss Aim was returning home to a flat she shared with two female friends after a night out drinking in central Taupo bars when she was attacked.
It appears she turned off Spa Road and was only 50-metres from her house when viciously assaulted on the corner of Waikato and Motutahae Streets.
However, Mr Turner could not rule out the possibility Miss Aim had taken a short cut through the school, as she taken that route with friends in the past.
While members of the 50-strong inquiry team continued scouring the school grounds and surrounding area for clues, information gleaned last night from a canvas of three Taupo bars was also being processed.
Police questioned patrons at Mulligans, The Holy Cow and Element - premises Miss Aim was known to have visited before she walked home alone about 2am.
They are also keen to talk to taxi drivers and the driver of bread delivery truck thought to have been in the area at the time she was attacked.
Her body was due to be released for the long journey back to her grieving family on the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland.
A blessing ceremony was conducted yesterday evening at the spot her body was found and a memorial service was planned in Taupo early next week.
Meanwhile, tributes continued to be added to her internet home page though one respondent, calling himself Tame Iti, has been reported to the police for an inappropriate post.
It includes the bizarre statement: "All too often do we praise the recently dead with out knowing the true story behind the face they portray to friends and family.
Just like the recent case of the paedophile being murdered by the parents of one of his victims in New Zealand, maybe this is a reminder that you cannot get away from your evil sins. God will send out his feral messengers of vengeance and their wrath will be quick and painful."
- NZPA