The person may have died many years ago
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Police continue to carry out a number of enquiries following the discovery of human remains at a Mt Eden property last week.
Following is a statement issued by Nick Baker.
Police have confirmed that the deceased was removed from the scene at Marlborough Street, Mount Eden, to the mortuary on Monday (February 3, 2020) afternoon.
Police have also removed a large piece of concrete from the scene, which ESR scientists will continue to examine over the coming days.
The post-mortem of the deceased commenced this morning at the Auckland Hospital Mortuary.
This is meticulous and challenging work for the Pathologist and their findings are not expected to be available to Police for some time.
Identity unknown
The identity of the deceased remains unknown.
There are considerable challenges for Police who remain open minded around their identity.
It is possible that the deceased died some years ago. Given the circumstances, formal identification will require forensic evidence.
A DNA profile from the deceased may take a week or two, but identification can only occur if Police and ESR have a comparative DNA sample that can be compared.
Therefore, it is likely be several weeks before the identity of the deceased is known.
Until such time, Police will not be speculating on the deceased’s identity.
Challenging and complex
The focus of the investigation continues to be on establishing the identity of the deceased, which includes identifying and speaking with former occupants and residents.
Police remain present at the address with the scene examination continuing.
“This is a challenging and complex investigation which is expected to take some time before we are in a position to establish the circumstances surrounding the death,” Acting Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin, Auckland City CIB said.
A karakia at the site is being arranged with local Kaumatua and we are grateful for their assistance.
We have had a really positive response from people contacting us with information on 105, which has been really helpful.
That said, we continue to seek assistance from the public to identify and locate former occupants, owners and residents at the premises, which we understand was possibly a former boarding house.
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