3:30 PM - By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE, IRN
As family and friends struggled to find answers to her brutal and untimely death, Marie Jamieson was farewelled with flowers today.
More than 400 people turned out to pay their respects to the murdered 23-year-old hairdresser.
After an hour-long service, they lined up outside the Whakatane District War Memorial Centre to put garden flowers on her casket before it was driven slowly away for a private cremation.
In a moving speech, Marie's father Gerry Jamieson said there would never be a cure for the pain he, his wife Yvonne, and Marie's five brothers and sisters felt in losing her in such circumstances.
But they had been comforted by support and messages from thousands of people.
"It is wonderful for us to know she had such a positive effect and touched the lives of so many," Mr Jamieson said.
Meanwhile Auckland Police investigating Marie's murder want to talk to a man seen hanging around near where she was last seen alive.
They say a bus driver has told them a man went to get on a bus but changed his mind at the same time a woman believed to be Ms Jamieson left the bus through the back door, at the Avondale Pak'N'Save.
Police say they do not consider the man a suspect.
They say he is Maori or Polynesian, in his late 20s or early 30s, about five foot five or 165 centimetres tall, with a thick moustache and dark hair.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Franklin says someone may have seen Ms Jamieson being abducted or getting into another vehicle.
He says police are also appealing to the criminal underworld for information.
Sex motive for woman's killing
Marie Jamieson farewelled
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