By DEBORAH DIAZ
The body lying in Auckland's mortuary, simply marked "not yet known male," has police stumped.
The decomposing corpse should have been identified within 24 hours of being found last Tuesday in the Waitakere Ranges, if the case had followed the "normal" patterns of homicide.
West Auckland police say that usually
someone, somewhere can supply a name for an unidentified body.
While the identity of this body remains a mystery, Hamilton officers have named the victim of their city's latest murder.
Paropkari Lal, aged 70, was found with extensive throat injuries in a riverside reserve in the central city early on Saturday.
Detective Inspector Bruce Scott said it was thought Mr Lal was attacked while walking home to Hamilton East after a night out.
In the West Auckland case, no new information has come to light for a week, which investigator Mark Franklin says is all the more remarkable because of the publicity given to the mystery man's distinctive Maori pendant and blue "Nokia" jacket.
Police now know that the jacket is one of only 54 of its type.
The zippered nylon jackets were given to staff at the cellphone company's Parnell offices in 1998.
Police aim to trace all of them.
"This case has really taken us aback," Detective Senior Sergeant Franklin said.
"We can't understand how it can be that no one is saying, 'This is my friend, neighbour or brother.'
"People don't live in a vacuum, even if they are loners. Someone has mail building up in the letterbox, or hasn't turned up for work, or has left the curtains drawn."
The autopsy showed that the victim's two top front teeth were capped, probably after being damaged in an accident - a feature that has given the investigation its name of Operation Fang.
He was slim, had black hair, was about 183cm tall and aged between 20 and 40.
He was relatively clean-cut, had no tattoos, and was tidily dressed for cold weather.
Police have been able to lift a quality thumbprint from the body, but have found no match for it in their records.
Detective Senior Sergeant Franklin said the "John Doe" was possibly a local man killed while out walking.
Police have not discounted a link between the killing and the disappearance of murder suspect Keith London, who went bush in the Waitakeres after his partner, Alison Aris, was shot in late June.
The dead man's jacket has "Nokia" written in white on the outer left collar and white stripes on the arms and shoulders.
He wore a black "Coed Naked" label T-shirt, with "Coed Naked Rock and Roll. The harder you play the louder" written in blue across the front.
By DEBORAH DIAZ
The body lying in Auckland's mortuary, simply marked "not yet known male," has police stumped.
The decomposing corpse should have been identified within 24 hours of being found last Tuesday in the Waitakere Ranges, if the case had followed the "normal" patterns of homicide.
West Auckland police say that usually
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.