KEY POINTS:
Police admit they could have looked in the boot of the car containing An An Liu's body sooner, but say it would not have made any difference in the hunt for her killer.
"We were already seeking him," said Detective Inspector Dave Pearson.
"It would have made no
difference whatsoever and tragically it wouldn't have made any difference in connection with An An Liu. We believe she had been dead by then for five days."
Mr Pearson said police are not sure exactly when An An died but it was believed to have been before her husband left the country on Thursday last week.
He would not be drawn on how she died except to say it was a violent death.
"Whether or not they should have searched that boot is a matter we will review in due course and is under review at the present time," Mr Pearson said.
"But it is something that possibly we could have done earlier."
He continued: "Make no mistake, we did not have any other authority other than in terms of the abduction of that child.
"The fact that she [An An] was missing was also gaining in importance, by the minute literally. And yes, maybe we should have looked in that car earlier, and I take that on the chin.
"But the fact of it is that the reason we went for that car was in relation to the abduction of that child."
An An's home is being treated as a crime scene, but police are not yet sure where she was actually killed.
They have faced criticism this week for the time they took to secure the car while it was parked outside An An's Mt Roskill home and then for the further 16-hour delay in conducting a forensic examination, which led to the discovery of her body in the boot.
Mr Pearson said while there was growing concern for An An's whereabouts when the car was seized on Tuesday night, it was not the main focus of the investigation at that stage and the warrant to search the vehicle was not obtained with the belief that she might be inside.
"The warrant was in relation to the abduction of that child, that's what we seized that car under."
Mr Pearson also denied that New Zealand police had not acted quickly enough in alerting American authorities to their hunt for An An's husband, Nai Yin Xue.
Xue left New Zealand on Thursday last week and went to Melbourne, where he dumped his daughter Qian Xun Xue at a train station before leaving on a flight to America on Saturday morning.
While Mr Pearson said a warrant wasn't issued for Mr Xue's arrest until Thursday this week, US authorities had been looking for him since Sunday when they were contacted by Australian police via interpol.
"Mr Xue was being sought by American authorities. We knew that as of Sunday night.
"We had been advised by the Australian authorities that Mr Xue was wanted within a short time of his arrival in America."
Mr Pearson said a team of 25 police officers were working on the investigation from New Zealand, as well as a number of Chinese-speaking police recruits who were helping with interpreting at witness interviews.
In America, United States marshals were leading the hunt for Xue and New Zealand police were holding conferences with them at least three times a day.
"They are doing a fantastic job for us. We know what they are doing and I can assure you they are using all their resources, which are extensive, to help us out."
- additional reporting: NZPA
