Post by Flash on Sept 23, 2007 10:54:50 GMT -5
Senior New Zealand police officials have strongly defended the handling of the investigation in what is now being referred to as the "body-in-the-boot" case.
Authorities have also confirmed the identify of the body as the mother of the little girl abandoned at a Melbourne railway station last weekend.
New Zealand police are smarting from criticism by the public and retired police officers that their handling of the inquiries into the abduction of three-year-old Qian Xun Xue and the murder of her 27-year-old mother, Annie Liu, had been bungled.
Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope says relevant international law enforcement agencies were alerted as soon as the child's identity was confirmed and standard forensic protocols were observed in the search for her mother.
"For anyone who steps back and looks at the complexity of what they are dealing with I think they'd be struggling to put the term keystone, unprofessional or slipshod to this investigation," he said.
Ms Liu's body was recovered from the boot of her estranged husband's car almost 48 hours after police first went to the family's suburban home in Auckland.
A pathologist's preliminary findings are that the young mother died from what has been described as an unspecified violent episode - though it is unclear when, where or how she was killed.
Police have established that she made her last phone and email contact with family and friends on September 10, four days before her estranged husband Michael Xue left New Zealand for Melbourne and then Los Angeles.
Police have issued a warrant for his arrest for the murder of his wife and the abduction of their daughter, and say they are now liaising with Interpol, the FBI and the US Marshall Service to find him.
Authorities have also confirmed the identify of the body as the mother of the little girl abandoned at a Melbourne railway station last weekend.
New Zealand police are smarting from criticism by the public and retired police officers that their handling of the inquiries into the abduction of three-year-old Qian Xun Xue and the murder of her 27-year-old mother, Annie Liu, had been bungled.
Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope says relevant international law enforcement agencies were alerted as soon as the child's identity was confirmed and standard forensic protocols were observed in the search for her mother.
"For anyone who steps back and looks at the complexity of what they are dealing with I think they'd be struggling to put the term keystone, unprofessional or slipshod to this investigation," he said.
Ms Liu's body was recovered from the boot of her estranged husband's car almost 48 hours after police first went to the family's suburban home in Auckland.
A pathologist's preliminary findings are that the young mother died from what has been described as an unspecified violent episode - though it is unclear when, where or how she was killed.
Police have established that she made her last phone and email contact with family and friends on September 10, four days before her estranged husband Michael Xue left New Zealand for Melbourne and then Los Angeles.
Police have issued a warrant for his arrest for the murder of his wife and the abduction of their daughter, and say they are now liaising with Interpol, the FBI and the US Marshall Service to find him.