The lives of a Waianakarua couple who died on Thursday remain a mystery to the community in which they lived.
Neighbours contacted yesterday after the tragedy early on Thursday said they did not really know the couple and their family. It is understood their two sons were home-schooled.
The couple, Lynette Mary Simpson (52) and Kim Gordon Simpson (51), and family had lived at the Olive Grove Lodge and Holiday Park, formerly a scout camp, for 13 years.
Police have been treating Mrs Simpson's death as homicide and say it was linked to the fatal crash.
Police yesterday revealed they had been in contact with the family earlier in the week, but would not confirm it was to take firearms from Mr Simpson.
Firearm issues were part of the inquiries, officer in charge Detective Senior Sergeant Malcolm Inglis said yesterday.
He refused to comment on suggestions Mr Simpson had been receiving mental health treatment.
He did say police were not aware of any domestic violence issues and no protection order was in place.
While not confirming how Mrs Simpson died until the postmortem had been completed, he did say it was ''a violent death''.
Neighbours visited yesterday knew very little about the couple, and their response was generally ''I didn't know them''.
While some had heard media reports the couple were in financial difficulties, none spoken to were aware of that.
The holiday park had been for sale privately by the couple since at least December for $550,000.
In the advertisement, the couple said their family had grown up there, but they now needed to move to further their two sons' education.
Mr Simpson had been involved in 2008 over proposals by the Otago Regional Council to set water quality and quantity limits on the Waianakarua River, which runs through the property.
He vocally opposed the limits as insufficient and at one stage walked out of a public meeting on the proposals.
In 2008, at Olive Grove he and Mrs Simpson hosted Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, its Waitaki candidate Oliver Briggs, party supporters and local people to increase pressure to improve the river's quality before the general election.
Scene examination continued yesterday at the holiday park.
From an initial inquiry staff of about 20 who were needed because two scenes - the crash and holiday park - were being examined, about half remained at the holiday park yesterday.
Mr Inglis expected postmortems to be completed today in Dunedin.
He said indications were Mrs Simpson had been murdered by her husband, whose vehicle then collided with a truck, but inquiries were still ongoing.
Police discovered Mrs Simpson's body about 7am, on Thursday when they went to notify her her husband had been killed about 4.15am in a crash on SH1, about 2km south of the holiday park.
His Land Rover Freelander collided head-on with a Hilton Haulage truck and trailer, police said.
Two sons, in their late teens, were sleeping in a sleep-out and were unaware of the deaths. There is also an older daughter who did not live at Waianakarua.
The teenagers were being looked after by family who had come to Oamaru, with help from Victim Support.
The truck driver received a cut finger, was treated at the crash site and went home to Timaru.
Road Transport Association New Zealand general manager Dennis Robertson, of Christchurch, said truck drivers had to deal with the aftermath of serious crashes for the rest of their lives.
Unlike most other jobs, they did not have a choice of tasks to return to do once they got back to work, and had to face the road again.
Mr Robertson said truck drivers were traumatised particularly when crashes involved children, when there were multiple fatalities, or if suicide was involved. He said the industry provided support to drivers after traumatic events.
