Neighbours recall couple discovering children’s bodies in suitcases
New details have emerged about the children whose bodies were found in suitcases left in a storage unit in New Zealand this week.
Stuff.co.nz reports that the children were of Asian descent. Police have said they have family members in New Zealand, but it is understood they also have family in Asia.
The two children, who were aged between 5 and 10, died “a number of years” before their remains were discovered, police said this week.
Their bodies were placed into two suitcases and put into a locker at Safe Store Papatoetoe in south Auckland. They remained there for “three or four years”.
The remains were discovered after a Clendon Park family bought the contents of the locker at auction.
They took the goods, including the suitcases, home on a trailer and unpacked them.
Neighbours described seeing members of the family opening a suitcase, then standing back as if in shock.
Police and forensics teams descended on the home shortly afterward.
In a media conference earlier this week, Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua said the children were of primary school age, but would not be drawn on their gender or whether they were related.
Police did not deny the children’s ethnicity when approached on Friday.
Vaaelua also said police were working with Interpol, the international police organisation.
Interpol has been contacted for comment but refused to answer questions.
The Korean, Chinese and Japanese embassies all said they had not been contacted by police about the investigation. The Vietnamese embassy has yet to respond.
It is not known if the children were enrolled in school before they died.
Stuff contacted multiple south Auckland schools, but all either said they had not been contacted by police about the case or were yet to respond.
Vaaelua said on Thursday a full post-mortem examination was yet to take place and DNA testing would be carried out on the remains.
