Dunedin unexplained death: House where body found at centre of 2009 police raid

The house at the centre of a mystery death in Dunedin was the scene of a dramatic armed police raid to rescue a foreign woman held hostage over a decade ago.

Police are conducting inquiries at the Garfield Ave home after a person was found dead inside the property yesterday.

A neighbour said the lone resident of the house had not been seen for six months.

A police spokesperson said initial indications suggested the person may have been at the scene for some time.

In 2009, the property was the subject of an armed raid with police hurling stun grenades through kitchen windows in a mission to rescue a German woman being held against her will by “a crazy person” at the property.

Speaking to the Herald, the woman, who did not wish to be named, said she had been scammed by the homeowner into believing she was taking a position at the University of Otago.

She said the situation had been misrepresented as a love story by media at the time.

A freelance artist, she said she had been contacted by the man online who pretended to be a representative of the university.

“I never thought that there was a scammer behind this official university offer. As was then discovered in New Zealand, the man had assumed different identities via several Internet accesses and also had several social network channels,” she said.

Upon her arrival in the country, she was picked up by a “crazy person” from the airport, who took her to his home.

Arriving at the “extremely neglected house” on Garfield Ave, she discovered her ID had been stolen.

“By then it was too late, it was dark and I was threatened that I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. From then on it was clear what it was all about and I immediately sought help.”

The only contact she had made in New Zealand was a fellow German on the flight, whom she reached out to for help.

The man contacted police, who then raided the home.

A neighbour who had lived near the home for six months told the Herald they had never seen the person who lived there and assumed the home was abandoned.

They said they had been spoken to by police the previous evening asking if they had seen the man.

They also said another neighbour had told them the man was unwell and had not been seen for a year.

“Investigations are in their infancy as police are working with ESR and a scene team to remove the deceased for forensic pathology examination, formal identification is yet to take place,” police said.

“More information will be released when we are in a position to do so.”

A formal identification of the deceased is yet to be completed.