Port Hills body: Identity still a mystery

Emma Campbell. Photo / Supplied

Police remain confident the body found in Christchurch's Port Hills is that of missing woman Emma Campbell despite a post mortem this morning failing to formally identify her.

Ms Campbell, 29, went missing in 2010 and her disappearance baffled police.

Police today said a post mortem this morning had not formally identified the body, which was found by a hunter over the weekend and later recovered by helicopter.

A further post mortem is likely to be carried out tomorrow.

A spokesman said police were still reasonably confident the body was that of Ms Campbell, who went missing after her 1994 Toyota Corona ran off the road into thick scrub in the Port Hills early on May 1, 2010.

Extensive searches have failed to find any trace of her.

Police have said the car crash before her disappearance was more likely staged than an accident.

At the time, Ms Campbell's red sneakers were found between her car and a walking track below, among beaten-down bracken.

It was about 5.20am on the day she went missing that Ms Campbell was heard driving away from her Bryndwr flat.

She often went away on trips, but never without her toothbrush and floss. They were left in the bathroom.

Ten minutes later and about 4km away, Ms Campbell stopped and bought petrol from a Shell station.

Images on security cameras show her smiling, but with shaky hands, as she paid the $30 bill.

Her family and dozens of volunteers helped with the exhaustive search for her.