Police focus on crucial clue in tourist's murder

Police are appealing for sightings of the digital camera that German backpacker Birgit Brauer was carrying on the day she was murdered.

The silver Canon PowerShot camera (model A75 or A85) was not with her body, which was found at Lucys Gully just over two weeks ago.

Nor was it in her backpacks, which were found on Monday partly hidden under foliage and wrapped in a sleeping bag near the edge of Lake Rotokare.

Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward said the camera was the one key item missing from the backpacks, which are undergoing forensic tests this week.

"If anyone has knowledge of the whereabouts of this camera ... has been approached to purchase it or has had contact with a person who is seeking to sell it ... police want to hear [from them]."

Mr Coward said the camera might have been dumped and picked up by a member of the public not realising the significance of it.

Police have released details about the camera after spending yesterday searching a private block of forest near the small town of Tangimoana, about 2 1/2 hours southwest of where the backpacks were found.

The search was prompted by two new sightings of the Toyota Hilux Ms Brauer was last seen getting into and a "reasonable description" of the man who was driving it.

But police will not release that description.

Members of the public told police they saw the Hilux at Scotts Ferry about 1pm on Friday, September 23, three days after the 28-year-old was killed.

That sighting was followed by another the next day at a forest block in nearby Tangimoana at 8.30am.

Forty police and Air Force staff failed to find anything significant during yesterday's search. Mr Coward, however, described the new Hilux sightings as a good development in the homicide inquiry.

He said they helped to trace the killer's movements from the morning of Tuesday, September 20, when Ms Brauer was seen getting into a two-door Hilux at Waitotara on State Highway 3.

From there the Hilux was seen driving up State Highway 45 to Lucys Gully, where it was again sighted at 1pm.

At 5pm, about the time Ms Brauer's body was being discovered at Lucys Gully, the Hilux was seen 45km away at a reserve in Cardiff, near Stratford. That reserve has been searched thoroughly but police will not say if anything was found.

Police are unsure what the killer did, or where he or she went on the Wednesday and Thursday.

On Friday, September 23, the Hilux was seen at Lake Rotokare at 10.30am. Some 2 1/2 hours later it was seen at Scotts Ferry, 20km west of Bulls, then at Tangimoana the following morning.

Mr Coward said several people in Scotts Ferry and Tangimoana spoke to or saw the man driving the Hilux.

Yesterday's new sightings point to the killer heading south. That would fit with the spot on the Ohau River, about 45km south, where a Hilux was found last Wednesday.

The results of forensic tests on that Hilux, which will confirm if it is the one Ms Brauer was last seen in, are expected soon.

Police have the name and description of the man who stole it but won't name him, despite saying they are actively seeking him.

They also refuse to say if that description matches that of the Hilux driver seen at Scotts Ferry and Tangimoana.

Anyone with further sightings of the Hilux can call police on 0800 CRIMESTOP or 0800 274-637.