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A body found north of Christchurch last night is likely to be that of missing deaf woman Emma Agnew, police said this morning.
The body was found at about 7.30pm behind a holiday park at Spencerville where police have been searching for the 20-year-old who disappeared 12 days
ago.
It was discovered, deliberately concealed by vegetation, by a member of the public walking a dog.
Police were not commenting on the state of the body, but confirmed there was evidence of "foul play".
Inquiry head Detective Inspector Tom Fitzgerald told a press conference this morning that he was unable to confirm it was Miss Agnew's body, "although in the circumstances it appears likely".
The body is due to be removed tomorrow after which a post mortem will take place.
Police have been in touch with the family.
"They're handling it," Mr Fitzgerald said. "It brings a bit of closure for them, but of course it doesn't help them."
He said it was too early to say if the body had any signs of injuries, or if there was any sort of weapon near the site.
"It's very early days. The scene examination is going to be meticulous. It will take some time before we can say what is there and what isn't," Mr Fitzgerald said.
He couldn't say how long the body had been there and would not comment on its condition.
Mr Fitzgerald said the investigation was continuing and police would reinterview some people they had already spoken to.
"There is a number of people we're continuing to speak to," he said.
He refused to say anyone was a suspect.
Police still wanted to hear from anyone, particularly those living in the Spencer Park area, who may have seen Ms Agnew's car or anything unusual in the area on the morning of November 15.
Mr Fitzgerald urged residents to "think long and hard" about where they were, what they were doing "and what they did see and didn't see in Spencer Park".
"We've got a number of areas to work through."
He would not term the body's discovery as a breakthrough in the case, but conceded "it certainly helps one phase of the inquiry".
"It's mixed emotions for the family and mixed emotions for the (police) team as well," he said.
"But it's a step forward for us to find out what's happened."
The area where the body was found had been extensively searched in recent days.
Security personnel guarded the scene overnight.
Divers yesterday completed their search of about 8km from the lower Styx River through to Spencerville.
Teams also conducted ground searches in the Spencer Park and Brooklands area, north of the city, and searches at North Canterbury's Kate Valley landfill site.
Earlier, police confirmed that Ms Agnew's car had been seen on the morning of November 15, the day she went missing, in the area where the search was concentrated.
They had earlier said they had "grave concerns" for her safety.
"The family start to realise that the possibility of foul play is there. It's traumatic for them," Mr Fitzgerald said yesterday.
"We all get to go home to our families - whether it's for four hours or three hours it doesn't matter. Emma's family don't have that and that's what drives us."
The last contact from Ms Agnew was in a text to her family just after 10.30am on November 15, when she said she was planning to meet a man interested in buying her car.
Her partially burned red Mazda Familia was found in Bromley Park, eastern Christchurch, that night - about 20km from the Spencerville area.
Police are still awaiting the forensic results from the car.
Ms Agnew had been at her work just before 10am on November 15. She visited friends about four minutes later, then headed north of Christchurch to the Spencerville Brooklands area just after 10.30am.
Police believe her car returned to Christchurch possibly as early as 11am.
Mr Fitzgerald said police inquiries were continuing and they were still seeking information from the public.
He said yesterday morning that there were a number of people his team had spoken to several times during the past 10 days, but they were reluctant to speak up.
"We will continue to speak to those people. Some of them don't want to talk to us," he told Radio New Zealand.
- with NZPA