Murder victim heading home

By Evan Harding and NZPA Toni-Anne Nathan was at her parents' home in Opononi just a few months ago, recovering from a back operation.
Now she is returning to the small Hokianga town - this time for good.
On Monday, she was murdered.
Today she was expected to be buried at her family marae at Pakanae, near Opononi, while her partner Mikaere O'Sullivan, 42, was to be buried in Rotorua on Friday. Ms Nathan and Mr O'Sullivan, who had been planning to marry this year, were shot dead under the Wairoa River Bridge near Tauranga early on Monday morning.
As the police investigation into their murders continues, Ms Nathan's family has been gathering in Hokianga to say farewell. A close friend of Ms Nathan's, who did not want to be named, said the couple frequently visited Ms Nathan's mother, Joyce, and stepfather, at Opononi. The couple had considered moving to the small town recently, after having lived in Auckland for 15 years.
However, they had moved to Omokoroa near Tauranga instead, to be closer to Mr O'Sullivan's family.
"They were going to move up North but Mikaere didn't want to go all the way up there," the friend said.
Ms Nathan was "kind-hearted, outgoing and a funny lady", the friend said.
She had just spent three weeks in Northland recovering from a back operation and she and her partner had moved to Tauranga on July 18 to make a "fresh start".
Ms Nathan had been working at a bakery while Mr O'Sullivan had been employed by a tarsealing company.
Ms Nathan's Opononi family declined to talk to the Advocate yesterday.
Police say Ms Nathan and Mr O'Sulllivan were "executed" with a shotgun. "We are extremely interested in anyone in the Bay of Plenty that may have had a shotgun stolen or misplaced in recent times," inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner said.
Police were also looking for the occupants of a dark blue "boy-racer" style car reported to have been in the vicinity of the bridge at the time of the killings.
"The car is described as similar to a Toyota Corolla or Mazda 323 type hatch-back with mag wheels and tinted windows in the mode of a boy-racer's car - we want to speak to the occupants to eliminate them from the inquiry."
A six-member police dive squad and eight search specialists are searching the river bed and banks.