Police are exploring a sighting of a woman being chased through Wanganui streets the morning barmaid Tania McKenzie was killed. Fresh sightings have led police to redirect their area canvass to the area bounded by Russell St, Seddon St to the west and Somme Pde to the east. Detective Senior Sergeant MikeOxnam, who leads the homicide investigation, dubbed Operation Somme, said the area was about two kilometres north of where Miss McKenzie's body was floating in the Whanganui River on January 7. "There have been sightings of a woman being chased in the vicinity of Russell and Alexander streets between 2am and 10.30am on January 7," Mr Oxnam said. He was tight-lipped about details of the sighting. "I don't want to release any details of the investigation that might harm the prosecution." Mr Oxnam didn't rule out an innocent explanation of the woman being chased and appealed for people to come forward if they saw Miss McKenzie in the Aramoho area between 2.55am and 10.30am on January 7. The Chronicle has learned that an Aramoho address was searched by police yesterday, but Mr Oxnam declined to comment. Miss McKenzie died from massive head injuries and police have previously said there may have been a transference of blood in what was described as a violent attack. Police have declined to say whether a weapon was used in the attack. The investigation remained confident the killer would be caught. A steady flow of information was being received by the Operation Somme team, which still numbered 50 officers. "People are still ringing the number, and we're linking information," he said. People were still being urged to check their eftpos receipts to jog their memories of where they were on January 7. The confidential number to ring with information about Miss McKenzie's homicide is 0800 44 55 68.
