A woman's body has been found at Raumati Beach, north of Wellington.
Beach walkers initially saw the body floating metres offshore this morning, about 100 metres from beachfront properties in the Kapiti Coast settlement.
Senior-Sergeant Alasdair Macmillan estimated the clothed body, of a woman in her 60s, would have been in the water less than 24 hours.
He said the description "roughly fits'' that of a woman whose daughter had telephoned police shortly before 11.30am. She had heard a report about the discovery and had gone to visit her mother, only to find she was not at home.
Police are on their way to talk to the daughter.
The so-far unidentified body was that of a European with shoulder-length greying hair. The woman was wearing a black dress, a black jacket and one black shoe.
