By SCOTT INGLIS
Detectives are wrestling with a number of mysteries in their hunt for the killer of young Auckland journalist Kylie Jones, stabbed in a brutal attack near her Glen Innes home.
Her shoes and some of the clothing she was wearing have not been found, despite a painstaking search of the area where her body was discovered.
Police also want to know which bus she caught home on Tuesday, the night of her death.
An autopsy has revealed that she suffered multiple stab wounds to her upper body in a prolonged attack, but police still do not know how many people took part or if she was raped.
More than 50 detectives and uniformed officers are trying to answer these questions and are pleading for public help.
Kylie Sheree Jones, a 23-year-old from Glen Innes, was murdered while walking home. Her body was left in a lonely reserve 150m from her Line Rd home.
Miss Jones was an intelligent, safety-conscious woman.
She was always aware of her surroundings and even took different buses home from work as an extra precaution.
But on Tuesday, she did not come home and her partner and family alerted police, who found her body shortly after midnight.
The officer leading the murder inquiry, Detective Senior Sergeant Stu Allsopp-Smith, said last night that Miss Jones could have caught any one of up to a dozen buses.
But police believe she caught one about 5.15 pm after finishing her day at Eye magazine in Symonds St, where she had worked for just over a year.
They believe she got off her bus at the brightly lit and busy Glen Innes shopping centre about 6 pm.
She was killed shortly afterwards.
Line Rd has street lights on the same side as the reserve, but police do not know where Miss Jones was first attacked.
They have recovered some of her clothing and other clothing and items, which are being tested.
Her thick, platform-soled shoes were still missing last night.
Sexual attack and robbery are prime motives, but police do not know if she was molested. They are awaiting forensic test results.
Detective Senior Sergeant Allsopp-Smith said Miss Jones had not previously been stalked or harassed and there had been no crimes in Glen Innes against women recently or which appeared to be linked to the murder.
Last night, about two dozen people were on the 625 Stagecoach bus, which Miss Jones often caught from the city to home.
It goes along Symonds St, through Newmarket, Remuera and St Johns and turns into Line Rd.
The bus trip Miss Jones would have taken starts in daylight, but during the winter months darkness descends rapidly.
At the Glen Innes shopping centre last night, the atmosphere felt safe.
Several shops - including takeaways, a dairy and Pizza Haven - were open and dozens of people mingled on the sidewalk. Line Rd was also busy with a steady stream of cars.
But 80 paces from Miss Jones' home, outside the dark reserve, the feeling is not so safe.
Several people walked past last night. One, student Eng Fui Siew, aged 21, said he often walked past the reserve and had never seen any trouble.
But Pizza Haven worker Holly Murray said she walked past the reserve often to go to work and was frequently harassed by youths loitering in the area.
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