A body found in the Pauatahanui Inlet last night has been identified as Julie Ann Springer, who was the focus of a search operation in the Kapiti area, police say.

An elderly Whangamata woman who has been missing for a week had recently booked and paid for tickets to travel to Norfolk Island and South Africa, says a friend.

The man whose body was found near the Heathcote River in Christchurch this morning has been identified as Jeff de Moulin, aged 41, of Woolston.

A woman walking her 11-year-old brother to school found a body beside the Heathcote River in Woolston shortly after 9am.

Family and friends of a Hokianga man missing for a week after going to set his fishing net will resume their search today in the hope Tangaroa, Maori god of the sea, will give up his body.

Police have found a body near the property of Dannevirke man William Kerry Power, who has been missing since Tuesday.

Police are seeking information about a 23-year-old man who was last seen three weeks ago. Ankur Sharma hasn't contacted his family in India since June 9 and they want to know if he is okay.

The mother of dead Auckland woman Jane Furlong is not convinced police will find anything connected with her daughter's murder at her last known address.

Police are seeking the personal effects of Northland woman Barbara Moka after a body believed to be her was found near Rawene yesterday afternoon.

A post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death was to take place in Auckland this morning.

Police believe they have found the body of missing Rawene woman Barbara Moka.

A search of bush and fields where a Northland woman was last seen two weeks ago has been called off after no new clues to her whereabouts were found.

The wife of a man who vanished nine years ago wants ponds at his workplace dredged in the same way as police have done in their hunt for the killer of Scott Guy.

Police and Search and Rescue volunteers have started scouring bush as mystery deepens around the disappearance of a Northland woman.

The disappearance of a Rawene woman after she left a marae with her partner is a mystery to police, but foul play has not been ruled out.

New Zealand police have been investigating possible sightings of a British man who vanished three years ago and who has apparently been spotted twice in an Auckland mall.

Convicted rapist Adrian Ernest Bayley was on parole when he raped and murdered Melbourne woman Jill Meagher.