Police investigating the death of a person in the boot of a burnt out car, hope to be able to remove the body from the scene in Mt Wellington today.
Officer in charge of the homicide inquiry, Detective Senior Sergeant David Pearson, said he has briefed his inquiry team and the scene in Reliable Way, discovered by the Fire Service at about 3.30 this morning, has been secured.
"We’re unable to determine whether the body is that of a male or female but we hope to make progress on that by the end of the day," Mr Pearson said.
"The area where the car was found burning is commercial so it’s unlikely there were many people around at that time in the morning. However, we may find some premises have security surveillance systems in place that might be able to shed some light on what’s happened.
"On that matter, if anyone was in the area in the early hours of the morning, they should contact the inquiry team at the Mt Wellington Police Station."
Mr Pearson said Police had made preliminary inquiries around the ownership of the vehicle and had established the deceased is not the registered owner.
"However, it’s too early to determine whether the deceased was connected in any way to the registered owner."