Police investigations into the Ellerslie murders have revealed that Mei Han Chong died from blunt force injuries to her head.

Auckland CIB detective inspector Scott Beard confirmed a post-mortem on Chong’s body was completed yesterday.

“It is beyond comprehension for the family as to how something like this could happen to Mei and Joseph,” Beard said.

Two men have been arrested for the violent murder of the Auckland couple, but the motive behind the double killing is still unclear.

Police noted the results of how Chong died will be understandably distressing to her family, especially for the couple’s son.

Her husband Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok, 66, was allegedly stabbed multiple times at his Ellerslie home on Sunday, November 5, and a family member found his body the following Monday evening.

Chong, 67, was missing after the alleged murder, prompting a police search for her and the couple’s car. Police then found her body in a bush area in Greenhithe overnight on Thursday.

Beard said Chong was a five-foot-tall 67-year-old woman, and weighed no more than 45 kilograms.

“The police investigation has been fast-moving and led us to numerous scenes across a large part of Auckland. In recent days, police have executed search warrants at a number of addresses and seized two vehicles we believe are linked to the murders.”

• What we know about alleged murders of Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and Mei Han Chong
• Second Ellerslie murder-accused appears in court, keeps name secret
• Man found dead in Ellerslie home, police appeal for sightings of car

Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok (right), Mei Han Chong and their son, seen here in one of the photos the couple's family have released to police. Photo / NZ Police

Beard said police had been scouring CCTV footage which had helped to identify the suspicious activity of a vehicle and two people at and around the scene in Celtic Crescent, Ellerslie between 1.08am and 3.47am on Sunday, November 5, including the couple’s car leaving the address at 3.47am.

“We still want to hear from anyone who saw suspicious activity or the victims’ blue Kia Rio car around Kererū Grove in Greenhithe or Hall Road in Glenfield any time between the early hours of Sunday, November 5 and Thursday, November 9.”

When police found the family car abandoned, it was displaying different number plates starting with the letters MDM.

“If this registers with you, or you have CCTV footage of a blue Kia Rio displaying these plates in [the] timeframe mentioned, please contact us.”

Almost a week after Kwok was believed to have been murdered, Beard confirmed the scene examination remains ongoing at the Ellerslie residence.

Beard thanked the members of the public who have assisted police and encouraged more to step forward.

Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and Mei Han Chong’s lives

The couple began their life in New Zealand in 1988 after moving from Hong Kong, police said.

Both had large families which they cared for and supported. Two of Kwok’s five siblings are in New Zealand, and Chong’s six siblings live abroad.

The pair both worked in healthcare services for most of their lives.

In Hong Kong, Chong had been a nurse before becoming a midwife. Kwok was an orthopaedic nurse for many years, and got home from work at 11.30pm the night before he was killed.

Chong is remembered as a supportive mother to her and Kwok’s son – their only child – and a loving wife. This included supporting her son when he, too, began a career in medicine.

Kwok was happy in his own world and cared about supporting his family and doing a good job in his chosen profession.

“Joseph and Mei were a loving couple whose careers involved helping other people,” Beard said.

The Ellerslie murder case so far

Police arrested a second person in connection with the Ellerslie pair’s death on Friday night.

A 26-year-old was located at a Glenfield home in northwest Auckland and has been charged with two counts of murder.

On Friday night, police arrested a second man in relation to both murders. Photo / NZ Police

The second arrest follows the earlier arrest of a 42-year-old man, who appeared via an audio-visual link in court yesterday when he was granted interim name suppression. He, too, is from Glenfield, but was arrested in Hamilton on Thursday night.

He wore a blue boiler suit and appeared calm, answering the judge’s questions in a measured tone from the Auckland Custody Unit in Mt Eden prison.

He was remanded in custody without plea for his next appearance in the High Court at Auckland on November 29.

An autopsy on Mei Han Chong’s body revealed she died from blunt force injuries to her head. Photo / NZ Police