Dive squad joint hunt for clues to elderly woman's killer

A police dive squad today joined the search for clues about the slaying of elderly Marton woman Mona Morriss.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Arnerich told NZPA the Wellington dive squad had joined the team of police in Marton for half a day.

"They are doing a check of a stream down the back for us, and another area of interest," he said.

The squad was looking for "items of interest", he said.

Mrs Morriss, 83, died of multiple stab wounds during an attack on January 3 or 4.

Her body was found in her Marton flat by a family member on January 5.

Police say she received other injuries in the attack but will not give details of them.

With the investigation in its 13th day, Auckland's police criminal profiling unit has also been called in to help.

Mr Arnerich said the unit would analyse the crime scene to build a profile of the killer and look for similarities with other crimes, to highlight possible suspects.

Yesterday afternoon police revealed there had been a sexual aspect to the attack and called on the criminal underworld to come forward with information.

Mr Arnerich told a press conference in the town police had found "evidence of sexual activity by the killer" in Mrs Morriss' home.

He would not confirm if what was found was semen but said they had sent evidence for testing.

"The type of killer -- a person who is sexually motivated, and (who) brutally kills an old lady -- is a person that even the criminal community don't protect," he said.

"We have already had some co-operation from the criminal community and appeal to them to provide any information that might identify the killer."

To date, police had collected more than 150 dna, fingerprint, shoe and hair samples for analysis.

A number of witnesses and possible suspects had had samples taken for comparison with material taken from the crime scene.

At yesterday's press conference Mrs Morriss' daughters, Mary Henley and Glen Meade, and grandson Andrew Morriss made emotional pleas for anyone with any information to contact the police.

"Our mother must have been terrified before she died," Mrs Henley said. "But the worst thing is that this could happen to someone else. So please, please come forward."

The exact time of Mrs Morriss' death had not yet been revealed to make sure information kept coming in, Mr Arnerich said.

"I've done many cases like this where people have information that's absolute gold. But they don't come forward, because they don't think it fits the time frame," he said.

Anyone with information should call 0800 4 Wellington (0800 493-554).

- NZPA