KEY POINTS:
Police hope forensic experts can give them a clearer picture of how an as-yet-unidentified woman died before her body was wrapped in blankets and dumped in a South Auckland river.
The woman's body was found wrapped in two distinctive blankets and weighted down by a large rock in
Clevedon's Wairoa River on Sunday.
Detective Sergeant Mark Gutry said the body was believed to have been in the water for at least a week, making it hard to tell how she died.
It is hoped forensic tests will give police more clues, such as if they are looking for a murder weapon or not.
"At this stage we don't particularly know what we are looking for. Because of the state of the body, we are still working on what may have caused the death," Mr Gutry said.
"There will be more forensic testing to see if we can establish what caused her death or how it happened."
Mr Gutry said a major focus at this stage of the inquiry was still trying to identify the woman, who is believed to be aged between 30 and 50, about 155cm tall and of small build.
She had shoulder-length dark hair, her two front teeth are believed to have been missing before she died and she was found wearing incontinence pants and a dark T-shirt with white strips around the neck and sleeves.
She is believed to have been a heavy smoker and had given birth.
Mr Gutry said police were working their way through a list of 73 women who are reported as missing around the country. Police were yesterday able to rule out 15 after finding them safe but still don't know who the woman in the river is.
"This may be someone who has not been reported, there are a lot of options. It could be that they [haven't reported] because they think the person has gone on holiday."
Mr Gutry said the incontinence pants might give police more leads if officers could not identify the woman from the missing person reports or reports from the public.
Meanwhile police are working their way through security camera footage from around the Clevedon town centre. They will also check police logs for anything suspicious reported recently in the area.
About 30 staff searched the riverbank yesterday for clues to the identity of the woman, or the person/s who put her there.
"They found various items up and down there but nothing spectacular."
A similar search by the Wellington dive squad on Tuesday also failed to find anything of interest.
The river where the body was discovered runs through a private farm.
Although two kayakers found the body, the river is not used often by the public as it is not very deep and is quite narrow in places. It is, however, accessible by several public bridges.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Operation River team on 0800 RIVER 1 or 0800 748371.
