That same day, at 6am, three armed offenders entered the Waihi Mobil service station, one armed with a pistol, one with a hammer and one with an unknown object.They assaulted the female attendant but fled without taking anything.
Twenty minutes later the same group held up the Park Rd Dairy in Katikati, 25km away, where two of the gang entered the shop with a gun and a hammer.
After being spooked by the male shopkeeper, the offenders again fled the scene without taking anything.
Detective Sergeant Glenn Tinsley, of Waihi CIB, said a post-mortem examination conducted in Auckland yesterday indicated Mr Voudouris' death was suspicious.
"We have a team of about 20 staff working on the case while we are also working with our Bay of Plenty colleagues to determine what, if any, links there may have been with an attempted robbery of a service station in Waihi and the aggravated robbery of a dairy in Katikati [Monday] morning."
Waikato rural field crime supervisor Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Whitehead said circumstances were of "sufficient concern" that the incident would be treated as a homicide until it could be determined otherwise.
Mobil New Zealand spokesman Alan Bailey said the female attendant assaulted in the Waihi attack, described as "an experienced member of staff," had been outside the store when she was confronted by the three armed offenders.
"I understand the site ... was not yet open for business. I think she was doing some routine checks prior to opening up the site. She was on the forecourt," he said.
The time of the attempted robbery meant there was nothing for the robbers to take.
"The site hadn't opened for business [and] the cash register wasn't open. Fortunately, there was very little of value for them there.
"It appears once they found that out they assaulted her," he said. Mr Bailey was not clear on the extent of the woman's injuries in the assault and the owner of the Mobil Waihi refused to comment.
