NZ - Two Children's Remains Found in Suitcases Bought at Auction - Auckland *Mother Arrested*

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Police are investigating after being called to reports that human remains were found in suitcases bought at an auction at a storage facility in New Zealand.

It is understood the remains were found in items inside a storage container that an unsuspecting family had bought, and that police could be dealing with multiple sets of remains, current affairs show Newshub reported.

Police have launched a homicide investigation and are trying to identify the remains. The police do not believe the family are involved in the incident.

The occupants of an Auckland home called police when they discovered the remains after they “brought unowned property to their address”, DI Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua said.

Police would not comment further, saying only that a postmortem was under way.
 

Police in New Zealand are investigating after human remains were found among the contents of an abandoned storage unit that was won at auction. A Manurewa family – who are not believed by authorities to be involved in the alleged crime – were shocked to discover human remains in a suitcase that was delivered to their house among the items they won.

"From our enquiries so far, we can advise the occupants of the address are not believed to be involved in the incident," the
statement from police said.

New Zealand authorities are currently conduscing a "homicide investigation."
 
The human remains found in suitcases bought as part of an auction for abandoned goods in a storage unit in South Auckland are two young children.

The NZ Herald reported earlier today from several sources that the remains are two young children, which was later confirmed to reporters by Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua.

He said the bodies - found at a Manurewa property on August 11 are two children - are primary school-aged, as ascertained by the post-mortem report.

Police are following “positive lines of inquiry” in terms of the storage unit rental, Vaaelua said.
He said the children were aged between 5 and 10 and police were working on establishing when and where they died.

 
Police update on Manurewa homicide investigation, DI Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua speaks to media


"It's still very early stages of our investigation, we're still on a fact finding mission and we still have a lot of unanswered questions."

Vaaelua could not comment on whether police had contacted the previous owner of the storage unit from which the human remains were taken to the Moncrieff Avenue property.

The police investigation was following "positive lines of inquiry" in regards to the storage unit with the help of the storage company, he said.

The investigation team had first tried to link the other items in the storage unit with the suitcases and then moved on to use items among the rest of the property to assist them in the identification of the children, he said.

Vaaelua also revealed police were working with international criminal police agency Interpol in their homicide investigation.

The news would be hugely devastating to the nearby communities, Vaaelua said.

There were relatives of the victims who remained in New Zealand and the first priority would be to contact the next of kin, he said.

The formal identification procedures were still underway so police could not comment on the identities of the children, he said.
 
How horrific. I hope they are able to be identified soon.

Since they were in a storage unit, it should be at least easy to trace to its previous owner.

"There were relatives of the victims who remained in New Zealand and the first priority would be to contact the next of kin, he said."

Makes it sound like they already know who the children are and just aren't releasing the ID.
 

Early indications are that the children could have been deadfor a number of years before being found, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Police are still in the early stages of the investigation, Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua explained, but the children appear to have been dead for a number of years.

He said the children were aged between five and 10 and police were working on establishing when and where they died.

“What I can say is we are making very good progress with DNA inquiries,” he told the New Zealand Herald.
 
"Bodies of two young children found in a suitcase in New Zealand were likely there for YEARS before horrified family unwittingly bought the luggage at an abandoned storage unit sale."

 

In the press conference video, in response to a reporter's question, LE said that the bodies had likely been there for 3 or 4 years....not as long as 10. I presume they know this based on how long ago the unit was initially rented.

Other info coming from the press questions:

Q: do you know the gender? A: I cannot say.
Q: are they related? A: some of these questions form part of the identification, which I am very reluctant to reveal at this stage.
Q: Can you comment on the state that the bodies were found in? A: That information is very important to the investigation and I am not prepared to comment on that.
Q: How upsetting has this been for you and the staff? A: I really feel for the family of these victims. Right now there are relatives out there that aren't aware that their loved ones are deceased, especially two young ones. As for the investigation team, this is no easy situation no matter how long or how experienced....
Q: What other kinds of items were found with the victims? A: Household items, personal items. The scene investigation there, one of the objectives was to use the other items to first and foremost confirm the link between the suitcases and and rest of the property. And once that's been confirmed to use the rest of the items to assist us in the identification of the children, and that is still ongoing.
Q: Are there people in New Zealand who will know something about this? Are you looking for people to come forward with information? A: At this stage of the investigation all we can say is that there are relatives of the victims here in New Zealand.



LE clearly knows who the suspect(s) is (are), but are holding their cards close to their chest for now as they continue their investigation.
 
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