'Ceremony' held before woman died

Police investigating the mystery death of Wainuiomata woman Janet Moses are looking into a ceremony that took place before her death.

But they are remaining tight-lipped as to what caused the death of the 22-year-old mother of two young children. Her body was found on a bed at a relative's home in Wellington Rd on Friday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Levy of Lower Hutt CIB said "some kind of ceremony" took place at the address, which was a family gathering.

"It wasn't a party or social gathering or anything like that," Mr Levy said.

"Any comment on what they were doing or what the ceremony involved would just be speculation."

Police were called by a family member on Friday night but Ms Moses may have died hours before.

An autopsy finished the following evening showed she had no internal injuries and it appeared no weapons were involved.

Mr Levy said police were still carrying out a scene examination and further medical analysis was needed before the cause of death was known.

They were about halfway through interviewing up to 20 family and extended family members who were at the address on Friday, he said.

The family were being helpful.

"It's going to be some time before we get a cause of death.

"We still have a lot of people to speak with as she has a large extended family and group of friends who had been in contact with her in recent days."

A family spokeswoman, who asked not to be named, said she did not know how Ms Moses died, only that it was being treated as unexplained.

Ms Moses lived in Wainuiomata with her partner and two daughters - aged three and one - whom she was "gentle and loving" toward, she said.

The three-year-old had a birthday on Sunday.

Ms Moses' parents were "broken up" and the whole family, including her three sisters, had come together to comfort and support one another, she said.

Another family member said: "We're going to really miss her. She was much loved by the family. She was a good quiet girl.

"Everyone loved her."

The body has been released to the family and the tangi is expected to take place tomorrow in Lower Hutt.

- © Fairfax NZ News