A police team have recovered a body during a two-day search of bush in the Far North.
Detective Senior Sergeant Rhys Johnston confirmed the body had been found today in a rural bush area 20 minutes east of Kaitaia.
"We believe the body may have been there for some time and it has been a methodical process to preserve any potential evidence," Mr Johnston said.
A specialist search team were helped by a pathologist and several scientists from ESR in Auckland. The search would continue tomorrow.
He said formal identification of the deceased would take some time and police would not be releasing any further details until that had been completed.