Police to reconstruct Kaitaia killing 

Source: ONE News

Relatives of an elderly Northland woman who died in a brutal attack in her home on Wednesday are to help police reconstruct the crime.

On Friday night as police held a 17-year-old suspect in custody on unrelated matters, Barbara Julian's children, John and Donna Julian, were taken through her Matthews Ave home in Kaitaia where her body was found.

They were looking for anything out of the ordinary or clues to her killer.

Julian, 70, had been preparing to host a regular social gathering of other elderly woman in Kaitaia but the alarm was raised when she did not open the door.

The 17-year-old was known to her family and had been charged with unlawfully being on a property.

Police have not released any details of how Julian died or said if they are looking for a weapon after the post mortem on her body, which was completed on Friday.

Nor will they say if she was sexually attacked, although a family member has said they have been warned to prepare themselves for the possibility that a sexual assault had taken place.

Detective Senior Sergeant Karen Malthus says it is too early to say if the teenage suspect would be charged with killing Julian.

She also says the Kaitaia community "should have no concerns for their safety".

Malthus says as the scene examination comes to an end, police would go through a "reconstruction phase" with Julian's family.

She says the brutal death of a "lovely lady" has deeply shocked the tight Kaitaia community and victim support has been offered through the police.

Barbara Julian's niece Linda Lunjevich says the family suspects that the killer entered though the back door and left by the front door.