Body found in busy
A body has been found in the search for missing British backpacker Grace Millane.
Police began a full scene examination of a bush area in Scenic Drive, in Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges, yesterday afternoon.
Formal identification had not yet taken place but police said they believed the body was Millane’s and the search for her had come to an end.
Yesterday afternoon, blue forensics tents could be seen about 500 metres from the Waitakere reservoir.
On Saturday evening, police announced they would charge a 26-year-old man with her murder.
He remains in police custody and is due to appear in the Auckland District Court today.
Revealing news of the discovery of the body at a press conference, Detective Inspector Scott Beard said officers identified the Waitakere area as a place of interest on Saturday night. ‘‘I can now advise that a short time ago we located a body which we believe to be Grace.
‘‘The formal identification process will now take place, however, from the evidence we have gathered over the last few days we expect that this is Grace.
‘‘Obviously this brings the search for Grace to an end. This is an unbearable time for the Millane family and our hearts go out to them.’’ Beard also said police had recovered a car of interest – a 2016 Toyota Corolla hire car – in Taupo¯ .
He added that Millane’s dad, who arrived in New Zealand from London on Friday to help with the search, had been joined by another family member.
‘‘Any father in this situation is going to struggle,’’ Beard said.
Millane, 22, from Essex in the United Kingdom, was last seen in central Auckland on December 1 and was reported missing on Wednesday. At a press conference on Saturday, Beard said police had gathered evidence, from surveillance footage and scene examinations at the CityLife Hotel in Queen St, that determined ‘‘Grace is no longer alive’’.
In Auckland, police continued to search the CityLife apartment where Millane was last seen at 9.41pm on December 1, and were sifting through hundreds of hours of surveillance footage.
Beard said he had no evidence to suggest Millane knew the man before Saturday night but detectives knew they were together from the time she was captured on surveillance footage at SkyCity to the time she was seen at the CityLife Hotel.
Detectives are still searching for some of Millane’s belongings, including her passport, a pale pink Casio Baby-G watch and a silver necklace with a green stone in the middle, which were missing from the Base Backpacker hostel where she was staying.
Millane was on a yearlong OE after graduating from the University of Lincoln in September.
The advertising graduate and keen artist arrived in New Zealand on November 20, after travelling through South America.
This was her first time travelling abroad alone.