Police have identified the two children whose remains were discovered in suitcases bought from an Auckland storage facility.
New Zealand police issued a statement confirming they had identified the children on Friday, but a coroner’s order has suppressed the release of their names at the request of the family.
New Zealand police launched a homicide inquiry in Auckland on 11 August after the remains of the children were found by a family going through the contents of a storage locker they had bought unseen at an online auction.
DI Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua said on Friday that police were “continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the children”.
Police have repeatedly stated the family who found the bodies was not connected to the deaths.
Vaaelua said at a media conference last week that a postmortem indicated the children were of primary school age – between five and 10 years old.
“The bodies were concealed in two suitcases of similar size … I believe the suitcases have been in storage for a number of years,” he said, adding that it was likely between three to four years.
The occupants of the home who discovered the remains were “understandably distressed by the discovery” and had requested privacy, Vaaelua said.