Police review information obtained since murder
Who killed feries?
It’s a question police hope they’ll soon be able to answer.
The 22-year-old’s seminaked body was found dumped down a bank in Waikowhai Reserve in 2005.
Police launched Operation Lyra in July to follow up on the original investigation, called Operation Waikowhai, and are appealing for new information.
‘‘Nine years have passed since Katrina’s body was discovered . . . Many people’s lives and impressions of past events have changed in that time,’’ Detective Inspector
Katrina
Jef- Scott Beard says.
Officers working on the inquiry have spoken with several people and are re-evaluating statements and information obtained since her death.
Work is also under way to determine if further forensic testing can be done on materials found with Katrina’s body.
She was last seen by her mother, Nicola Jefferies, whose Waikowhai house she left around 8pm on Sunday July 10, 2005.
Katrina was the solo mother of a 2-year-old son and was known to live a dysfunctional lifestyle.
Nicola told police it wasn’t unusual for her daughter not to return home overnight.
She was found in Waikowhai Reserve on July 12, 2005, wrapped in a red tarpaulin, a yellow Storm- wear raincoat, and a black plastic rubbish bag.
Her death was ruled a homicide by coroner Gordon Matenga at a hearing in 2011, but the cause of her death was suppressed to help police with the investigation.
More than 700 people were interviewed in the original enquiry and there have been several false confessions to the murder.
A $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction expired in late 2007 but police are reviewing whether it will be reactivated.
‘‘We have put a great deal of effort into reviewing the earlier Operation Waikowhai file and have been able to build on the good work our colleagues did in those [early] years,’’ Beard says.
A 54-year-old Mt Roskill man is facing 36 unrelated charges as a result of the new investigation.
They include threatening to kill and assault with a weapon, unlawful sexual connection, sexual violation and kidnapping. He is also facing drugs charges.
The offences allegedly occurred between 1983 and February 2014.