Profilers called on for help in murder hunt

Katrina Jefferies

A criminal profiling team yesterday visited the spot where the body of young mother Katrina Jefferies was dumped, and police appealed to anyone who passed through the area early this week to make contact.

The 22-year-old Mt Roskill woman was last seen by her mother at 7.30pm on Sunday, when she left the home they shared with Ms Jefferies' younger brother and 20-month-old son.

She was meeting a friend or friends but there have been no sightings of her between Sunday night and when her body was found in Waikowhai Park, just off Waikowhai Rd, about 8.20am on Tuesday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley urged anyone who drove or walked down Waikowhai Rd between 4.30pm on Monday and 8.30am on Tuesday to contact police.

"It is logical that the person that is involved ... has travelled down that road, so anybody who has seen anybody travel down there by vehicle or foot is highly important to us.

"They don't know what they have seen and whether it's significant. What they think is not significant may be the key that solves this."

Mr Whitley said police had received more than 50 calls from the public and the 36-strong inquiry team was sifting through the information.

However, there had been no confirmed sightings of Ms Jefferies and Mr Whitley said he was open-minded about when she died.

A profiling team including a forensic psychologist and a detective who worked on the South Auckland serial rape inquiry has been called in to work on the case.

"[A profile] helps us focus where we want to go with the inquiry," said Mr Whitley. "It creates an option of looking outside the square and one of the things we're really interested in is geographic profiling - is the offender from that area?"

He would not comment on whether Ms Jefferies was sexually assaulted but said she had injuries to her upper body.

Police were still waiting on forensic results, which could take some weeks.

Ms Jefferies' distressed mother, who has been helping police piece together a picture of her daughter's life, is coping with the second tragic loss of a child in just a few years. An older son drowned about two years ago.

Mr Whitley said Ms Jefferies had been "unwell" and her mother cared for her young son, but he would not elaborate on her condition.

She was known to police for "very minor matters" and had not been involved in any illegal activity at the time of her death, he said.

Anyone with information can contact police on 0800 Waikowhai (0800 924-569).