New lines of inquiry followed by police
Police are looking for sightings of two vehicles across Te Horo and Manawatū as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Breanna Muriwai.
The 22-year-old went missing after family members dropped her off at Paraparaumu Railway Station, north of Wellington. She was last seen on August 28 walking on Te Horo Beach near the car parking area on Sea Rd about 4am.
In yesterday’s episode of Ten 7, Levin CIB Detective Richard Morse said Muriwai was last seen at a Palmerston North liquor store at 11.15am on August 27, and spent the rest of the day at a male acquaintance’s family home in the city.
Before leaving Manawatū, Muriwai and her acquaintance picked up a second male and headed south in a silver Peugeot 307, stopping at Kimberley Reserve near Levin at 12.45am on August 28.
Muriwai’s bank card was used in taki at 1am to withdraw $250 at an ATM, with the Peugeot parked near the town’s Hunting and Fishing Store where they met up with a third acquaintance 20 minutes later near the corner of Hyde Park and Te Horo Beach Rd.
Witnesses reported Breanna becoming upset and running off down the beach, Morse said, and one of her acquaintances tried to find her without success, and left the beach at 4am.
Later that evening, one of the acquaintances swapped the Peugeot for a green Honda Civic.
Now, officers are appealing for sightings of the silver Peugeot and green Honda in the early hours of August 27 near Kimberley Reserve, State Highway 1, Ōtaki and Te Horo Beach.
Police found Muriwai’s phone on the beach earlier in October and appealed for information on a purple and pink bag a week later. The bag remains missing.
Muriwai’s mother Jasmine Gray¯saidO in October the toll her daughter’s disappearance had taken on her family had been ‘‘soul crushing’’.