Homicide in Bay of Plenty District - Release Five

Bay of Plenty Police continue the homicide investigation into the suspicious death of a 78 year old local man John Alan ROWE who died overnight on Monday 24-Tuesday 25 November 2008 at his home address in Windsor Street, Opotiki.

A funeral for Mr ROWE is scheduled for 11.00am this morning at St Stephens Anglican Church, Church Street, OPOTIKI.

A police / family media conference has been organised for any interested press at 3.00pm this afternoon. The arranged venue is the Opotiki District Council. The family will issue a brief statement at this conference.

Detective Inspector Rob Jones says 'police continue to carry out extensive enquiries in respect of this investigation. Police continue their examination of the scene at 33 Windsor Street which is expected to last another 2-3 days and a number of persons have been interviewed in an attempt to identify if they or anyone they know has any knowledge regarding the attack on the victim.