26 Aug 2013

Papakura deaths now double homicide

8:03 pm on 26 August 2013

Police say they believe the person responsible for killing a couple in a rural South Auckland home knew at least one of the victims.

They confirmed on Monday afternoon they are treating the death of a man and woman in the suburb of Papakura as homicide and they are looking for a third person or multiple offenders.

Detective Inspector Dave Lynch says police believe the attack is not random.

"I'm not going to go into detail but there are indications at the scene which would lead us to believe it's likely that one or both the victims were known to the offender or offenders."

Police are yet to formally identify the victims but believe they are Trevor Waite, 51, who lived at the Ponga Road property, and Glenys Stanton, 47, of Mt Eden.

They believe the pair died of gunshot wounds but a firearm is yet to be found.

"We haven't conducted post mortem examinations yet, however, it's fairly clear from our preliminary analysis at the scene that both victims died from gunshot injuries," Mr Lynch said.

The killings occurred some time between Friday evening and when the bodies were discovered at the house Ponga Road, Opaheke, just before 11am on Sunday morning.

Police say there is no indication burglary was a motive and they don't believe the pair was involved in any illegal activity.

The bodies were were found by the dead man's daughter, who had stayed at the property on Saturday night with a female friend.

Mr Lynch says the public should not be concerned, as crimes of such a nature are hardly ever random.