Body found in Christchurch believed to be missing Braydon Hepworth

New Zealand Police found a body at a Hereford Street property in Christchurch on Thursday, 8 October, and believe it is missing 21-year-old Braydon Hepworth, RNZ reported. Formal identification is still underway. Police are treating the death as unexplained, leaving the cause and circumstances of his death unresolved.

The discovery came during a search warrant carried out that morning. Detective Inspector Scott Anderson said several warrants had been executed in Christchurch in connection with Hepworth’s disappearance. A post-mortem is scheduled for Friday, 9 October, according to RNZ. Police have not announced an identification result or a cause of death.

What police found on Hereford Street

RNZ reported that officers located the body at a residential property on Hereford Street. Anderson said a scene guard remained there and police expected to be at the address for several days. Investigators were concentrating on confirming Hepworth’s movements and speaking with people who were assisting their enquiries, he said.

Anderson cautioned that the inquiry was at an early stage and that building a clear picture of what happened would take time. The description of the death as unexplained does not establish how Hepworth died. RNZ did not report any arrest, charge or named suspect in connection with the discovery.

How the search developed before the discovery

In an earlier statement on Thursday, police said their enquiries suggested Hepworth was no longer alive. Officers said they had carried out search warrants in Linwood and Edgeware but could not share what those searches had found. RNZ’s subsequent report of the body found on Hereford Street marked a further development in the case; the earlier police statement did not disclose that finding.

Police placed Hepworth’s last confirmed sighting at the Z Energy service station in Linwood on 3 September. They also said investigators had previously examined a property on England Street, which was his last known address. Those locations are parts of the search history; the available reports do not establish what happened to him after the confirmed sighting.

Chris Lynch Media reported that Detective Senior Sergeant Karen Simmons said on 6 October that the England Street examination had been completed while the disappearance inquiry continued. Its report, published before RNZ’s account of the body discovery, said police had not disclosed the evidence behind their belief that Hepworth was dead or the findings of the latest warrants.

Hepworth’s mother, Char Huntley, had previously described to Chris Lynch Media the distress of searching for her son without knowing where he was. Her account conveyed the family’s experience and her belief that someone knew what had happened; it did not establish the circumstances of his disappearance. Police described Hepworth as a father and a son in their appeal for information.

Identification, post-mortem and public appeal

Formal identification is the immediate unresolved step following the Hereford Street discovery. The planned post-mortem may inform the investigation, but police had not announced its findings at the time of RNZ’s report. Anderson said investigators were still working to reconstruct Hepworth’s movements and urged people with information to come forward.

In their public appeal, police asked anyone with information to contact them online through 105.police.govt.nz or by calling 105, using reference 260918/8420. Information could also be given anonymously through Crime Stoppers. The appeal remains relevant as investigators seek to establish what occurred between Hepworth’s last confirmed sighting and the discovery reported Thursday.

The confirmed position is limited: a body was found, police believe it is Hepworth, and the death is unexplained. Identification, the cause of death and the sequence of events remain to be established through the continuing police inquiry and the scheduled post-mortem.