Jarrod Allan Mangels, who murdered Arrowtown woman Maureen McKinnel 25 years ago, has been declined parole for two years.
The 40-year-old appeared before the New Zealand Parole Board at a hearing held at an undisclosed location in March, and was declined parole.
Mangels appeared before the board last week for consideration of a postponement, which is given to an offender deemed not suitable for release at the time when they were next due to be considered for parole.
While a three-year postponement was discussed at the earlier parole hearing, the board considered this ''rather too long''.
The board decided a postponement order - dated from his last parole hearing on March 13 - for two years would be appropriate.
Mangels was due to enter a drug treatment unit, and in the earlier parole hearing acknowledged he needed to undertake these programmes.
''Although he was earlier ambivalent about [rehabilitation], he is described as being motivated and he realistically does not see the likelihood of parole for `several years','' the board noted.
Miss McKinnel (38) was strangled to death at her parents' Arrowtown holiday home on Boxing Day 1987 and her body thrown over the Arrow River bridge. It was discovered four days later.
Police investigated about 500 people in connection with her murder, including Mangels, who was aged 15 at the time of her death. Mangels was arrested in Nelson on a disorderly behaviour charge in January 2003, and agreed to a provide voluntary blood sample.
DNA testing proved he was four billion times more likely than any other person to be the one who left material under Miss McKinnel's fingernails.
He was sentenced on April 6, 2004, to a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
The board noted between the time of the murder and his conviction he accumulated over 80 convictions and had 27 prison sentences for crimes involving drugs, violence, wounding, burglary, alcohol-related driving, and ''clearly has a disturbing history''.
