KEY POINTS:
Police investigating the murder of Christchurch schoolgirl Marie Davis have several strong lines of inquiry.
Detective Senior Sergeant Virginia Le Bas said her team had identified "persons of interest, the majority of whom were known to Marie" but refused to say who they were.
The 15-year-old was last
seen at her family home in the northern Christchurch suburb of Papanui on April 5.
Police confirmed yesterday that the body recovered from the city's Waimakariri River on Thursday was Marie, after receiving the preliminary results of a post mortem examination.
Le Bas said Marie was identified using dental records so her family didn't have to see the body.
But she refused to say how and when Marie died, the condition of her body and the exact location it was found. She also refused to confirm if Marie was clothed or if her body, which was submerged in the river, was weighed down or wrapped up.
"It's really not helpful to the investigation at this time to disclose information like that," Le Bas said.
Marie's wallet was also found in the river, but Le Bas would not say if other items recovered by police, including clothes, belonged to the dead girl.
She would not say whether police had found Marie's Nokia cellphone and a shoulder bag that was believed to be with her when she disappeared.
Police will distribute flyers in the area around the river today to jog memories of people who may have seen Marie before she went missing.
A number of locations around Christchurch were also being considered as crime scenes, said Le Bas.
Marie's body will be released to her family tomorrow and cousin Nick Donald told the Herald on Sunday her funeral was planned for next week.
Although Marie was part Maori, Donald said it was unlikely the family would hold a tangi.
News of her death had yet to sink in, said Donald. "We're on and off. Sometimes you forget and carry on. I look at my kids and everything seems normal and then it just hits you again that she's not coming home.
"We just expected her to come and knock on the door and announce she was back."
Marie's mother Janet was too distraught to speak to the Herald on Sunday yesterday.
"She's just devastated. She's gone for a walk to collect herself. We're all still in shock," said Donald.
Robyn Botha was also struggling to comprehend that her best friend Marie was dead.
"Robyn doesn't have a large group of friends. Marie was it for her," her mother, Tracy Botha, said. "Nobody can prepare you for a situation like this. The other day Marie's favourite song came on and she just went to pieces... it's just so difficult to cope."