Sketch released of mystery man found dead in Rotorua

Police have released a computerised sketch of a man found dead in a Rotorua park, and say it's "highly unusual" that the body still remains unidentified.

Despite a number of public appeals and enquiries, police are still in the dark over the identity of the mystery man, whose body was found in Linton Park reserve on Monday.

A sketch was released this afternoon in the hope someone would recognise him.

"It is highly unusual to find ourselves in this situation," Detective Sergeant Tony Colby said this afternoon.

The location where he was found would suggest he was local or familiar with the area, he said, but the more time that passed without anyone coming forward, the more police had to consider he may be from out of town.

"Not every parent is in contact with their adult children on a day-to-day basis but I'm sure every parent would want to know if something happened to their son or daughter, so we are asking everyone to spread the word so that we can do the right thing by this man and his family."

The man had a distinguishing mark on his left cheek, which was darker than his skin colour and possibly a birthmark.

Although only small, it could be something that would be memorable to a family member or friend.

The man is most likely Polynesian, but possibly Maori.

Police are estimating his age as in his 20s but don't want anyone to rule out someone who is older or younger based on this estimate.

He had no tattoos but he did have two significant scars on his right inner forearm.

One was a scar about 12cm long running from his wrist up his arm and the other was approximately 4cm long near the elbow joint.

Police said they were thick scars, more likely from an accident than surgery, and likely would have required stitches.

On this same wrist he wore a plain plastic yellow wristband.

He had short cropped hair and thin razored, well groomed sideburns and facial hair.

His clothing included a blue Bulldogs cap and black and red Nike trainers.

He wore a khaki Dickies shirt over a purple and yellow singlet with Lakers 24 on the front and Bryant on the back.

Under that he wore a black t-shirt with a Crack a Woody design.

He also wore Dickies shorts that matched his shirt and his belt had a distinctive steel buckle that doubled as a bottle opener.