Speculation in a Bay of Plenty town has forced police to deny any link between the death of an Opotiki man and a woman who died in the town 24 hours later.
John Allan Rowe was killed in Opotiki in late November, while the 20-year-old woman died in the same town the following night.
Detective Inspector Rob Jones says there is considerable speculation within the Opotiki community that the woman's death is linked to that of 78-year-old Mr Rowe.
The woman's body was exhumed on Friday and a second post-mortem carried out.
Mr Jones says there is no available evidence to suggest her death was suspicious, or is in any way linked to Mr Rowe's homicide.
He says he understands that the community may be apprehensive that no arrest has been made, but police are committed to solving his killing.
