Police using DNA to identify human remains found near Tokoroa

By Natalie Akoorie of RNZ

Human remains found on the rural outskirts of Tokoroa this week will be identified using DNA, police say.

A member of the public reported the find to police on Wednesday.

A police spokeswoman said when human remains were found they were removed with the assistance of ESR investigators.

“A post-mortem examination takes place, and then we work through a process to identify the person,” she said.

“In relation to the Tokoroa case, we are advancing identification through DNA, which is a process ESR completes, and this takes some time.”

A post-mortem would take place, before police could work through a process to identify the person.

The identification of the remains would likely take some time, the spokeswoman said.

The mother of a little boy who disappeared in Tokoroa in 1968 told RNZ she did not know if she wanted the remains to be those of her son.

Jefferie Hill was almost three when he went missing from the back of his parents’ home in Ferguson St, near the Matarawa Creek.

His body was never found and in 1969 a coroner ruled he had drowned.

However, without his body, mum Jo Reynolds was never able to rule out foul play.

Mum Jo Reynolds has never had answers about her son, Jefferie Hill. Photo / RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

The 81-year-old said she had not been contacted by police but expected it to take time to identify the remains.

“I heard it on the news and my heart just more or less stopped. I thought ‘Oh, my God’. Could be Jefferie.

“And then I thought, ‘I hope it is’ and then I thought, ‘I hope it isn’t’.”

She understood the remains were found at Mossop Rd, on the other side of town from Ferguson St.

The other missing person case in Tokoroa was that of Shane Edwards, a 42-year-old father who left his home in Hawick St in May 2022 and vanished.

It was also possible the remains belonged to someone missing from outside the area.

Human remains were dug up in Hamilton in June when the owners of a Hillcrest property excavated for a pool.

The remains were identified as pre-European and identification was handed over to iwi.

Taupō area investigations manager Detective Senior Sergeant Ryan Yardley said specialist resources, including search teams, were assisting to ensure a thorough examination of the Tokoroa remains.

“Formal identification will take some time and until this process has been completed police will be unable to provide further comment or information on the possible identity of the remains.”

Anyone with information can contact police online, or by calling 105 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

- RNZ

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