A homicide investigation has been launched into the death of a Christchurch man who police initially believed killed himself more than two years ago.
Philip James Nisbet, 47, was found dead in bed at his Halswell home on May 4, 2009.
His death was investigated by police before they concluded there was no evidence of foul play and his death was referred to the coroner.
However, after an inquest in November last year coroner Sue Johnson found there was no "evidence of any weight'' that Nisbet intended to kill himself and there was "no objective proof'' he was the author of two suicide notes, which were sent by text and typed on a computer.
The coroner's report into his death said Mr Nisbet's widow, Helen Nisbet, who was the last person to see him alive, showed police a text sent from her husband's phone at 10.30pm which included the words "i can't keep going like this''.
She also showed police a computer-written suicide note she found on a piece of paper in a briefcase, which had her husband's name typed at the bottom.
Mobile phone records showed she had sent a friend a text message about the suicide note six weeks before telling police.
Mr Nisbet's family said they were shown a note which was signed with handwriting and not typed.
Ms Johnson said Mrs Nisbet's evidence was inconsistent and she was an "unreliable witness''.
She said other than the fact the text message was sent from Mr Nisbet's cellphone, there was "no evidence to indicate he sent it''.
The threshold of evidence for suicide had not been met, and "I leave this point open", the coroner said.
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Murton said today a team of detectives was currently working on the homicide investigation, which was building on several months of inquiries conducted by police at the time of his death.
