The killer in the execution-style shooting of Wellington drug dealer Terri King remains unknown, a coroner has decided.
Mr King, 31, who was known most of his life by his adopted name of Trevor Raymond Heath, was shot dead on Mt Holdsworth in the Tararua Ranges in April 1999.
Police said he had probably gone there looking for a cache of drugs.
The man he was last seen with, convicted drug importer William Jan Haanstra, was acquitted of his murder after a High Court trial at Wellington that ended in November 2000.
At an inquest in Masterton, coroner Jock Kershaw found that an unknown person or persons shot Mr King once in the back of the head.
A police officer involved in Mr Haanstra's trial, Detective Sergeant Ross Levy, told the inquest that police were not looking for anyone in connection with the murder.
The lawyer who represented Mr Haanstra, Donald Stevens, said he suspected police were not looking for anyone now because the suspects had left the country.
During the two-month trial, the defence focused on the possibility that a South African - or someone working with or for him - had killed Mr King.
A South African drug dealer, Maynard Goldsmith, came to New Zealand to testify under an immunity from prosecution for drug offences. He denied involvement in Mr King's death.
- NZPA
'Unknown' ruling on killer
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