New Zealand police issued a statement confirming they had identified the children on Friday, but a coroner’s ruling ruled out releasing their names at the family’s request. New Zealand police launched a homicide investigation in Auckland on August 11 after the children’s remains were found by a family going through the contents of a storage locker they had bought sight unseen at an online auction. DI Tofilau Famanuia Vaaelua said on Friday that police were “continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the children’s deaths”. Police have repeatedly said the family that found the bodies was not connected to the deaths. Vaaelua told a press conference last week that the autopsy showed the children were of primary school age – between five and ten years old. “The bodies were hidden in two suitcases of a similar size … I believe the suitcases had been stored for several years,” he said, adding it was likely between three and four years. The occupants of the home who discovered the remains “are understandably distressed by the discovery” and had asked for privacy, Vaelua said.
