Hamilton Police investigating the discovery of a man’s body in a car found abandoned in the city arrested two people for murder overnight.
The dead man has been identified as Piki KINGI, a 38-year-old Hamilton man Police had been searching for since receiving reports last Friday of an alleged serious assault at a Cobham Dr address.
The Mazda car Mr KINGI’S body was found in was recovered by Police from Mansel Ave late Sunday night.
Confirming the victim’s identity, homicide inquiry head, Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Page, said Mr KINGI had suffered some serious injuries.
“And those injuries will be the subject of scrutiny during a Post-Mortem examination being carried out this morning.
“Our investigations into the Cobham Dr incident have been able to confirm the link between Mr KINGI’S death and the address and we believe this is the place where he was murdered.”
Mr Page said that link was established via a detailed scene examination which is still continuing.
“Detectives investigating these matters arrested a 48-year-old Hamilton man and a 45-year-old Hamilton woman overnight and charged them with murder.
“The pair will be appearing in the Hamilton District Court this morning, as yet their identities have not been released.”
Mr Page said the arrests came about through a combination of sound Police work and assistance from the public, assistance which he hoped would continue.
“The investigation into Mr KINGI’S murder continues and we expect to make further arrests,” said Mr Page.
Waikato Police are investigating links between an assault that took place at a Hamilton home earlier in the week and the disappearance of a City man.
Inquiry head, Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Page, of the Hamilton CIB said Police went to a Cobham Dr address on Friday after receiving information something was amiss.
“Subsequently a forensic examination of the property was completed which led us to believe a serious assault took place at the address.
“Our staff are still speaking to the occupants in an effort to establish what occurred and parallel to this investigators are endeavouring to locate a local man, Piki KINGI.”
Mr Page said the 38-year-old Maori male hadn’t been seen since the middle of last week. He is described as being of medium build, 190cm tall with shoulder length black hair.
“He was last seen about 11am on Wednesday 10 June at the Caltex service station in Hillcrest where he refuelled a burgundy 1992 Mazda MS6 liftback, registration number ACC958.
“We believe locating this car may hold the key to finding Mr KINGI and we want to hear from anyone who may have seen this vehicle.”
Mr Page stressed the investigation was still in its infancy and it was still too early to draw any conclusions regarding what had happened.
“At this stage we’re keeping an open mind into if the two incidents are linked and clarifying this issue is a major focus of the investigation team’s work.
“Forensic investigators are working with Police to establish if there are indeed any links however it would be fair to say that as time goes on our concerns for Mr KINGI’S wellbeing grow.”