The mystery of a headless skeleton found in an Auckland garage may be closer to being solved with police thinking it belongs to one of two men who disappeared from the area in the past four years.
Investigators have taken DNA samples from the parents of two men on the missing persons list in the hope that one matches bones found at the Mt Wellington property late last year.
Detective Sergeant Graham Shand has been scouring the missing persons files of 43 men who bear some similarity to the skeleton, of a small man who stood about 1.6m tall.
"We've identified two people (off the list) and are getting DNA from family members to forensically eliminate them or connect them to the remains," Det Sgt Shand told NZ Newswire.
"That's a good development ... but we're still keeping an open mind. There's a chance it might still be someone else, someone not even on this list."
The skeleton has been puzzling police since it was discovered in September by contractors who were demolishing a house in Barrack Rd.
The bones are believed to have been introduced in the past year, since a family who lived there for 20 years moved out.
A limited edition Converse shoe released in 2007 was found with the skeleton, indicating the man died in the past four years.
Det Sgt Shand said while the shoe was a great lead, he was aware it could be a red herring.
He said officers were working carefully to manage expectations.
"Obviously we have to be careful how we deal with it. You don't want to get people's hopes up regarding their loved ones," the officer said.
"It's good progress though. Hopefully we'll get a breakthrough fairly shortly."
AP