The New Zealander who kept his dead girlfriend on ice in a Los Angeles hotel for almost a year says he is not yet ready to tell his story.
Drug-convict Stephen Royds, 49, returned to his parents' Queenstown home last week after having served half of his US prison sentence.
Police found the body of Monique Felicia Trepp, 33, after arresting Royds for possession of 54g of cocaine and executing a search warrant at his room at the Fairmont Hotel in Newport, where he had been living long-term. She had been kept stuffed in a plastic tub and preserved with dry ice.
Royds was not charged in relation to hoarding Trepp's body after she died of a drug overdose but has served half his four-year sentence in a US jail after pleading guilty to two drugs charges.
Royds said returning to Queenstown after 30 years away was like landing on another planet.
"It's like Mars," he told the local newspaper Mountain Scene.
However, he was not saying much more.
"I've got quite a story to tell but I'm not ready to tell it yet."
His parents Sally and John Royds had not seen him for 22 years.
Ms Royds said her son was enjoying being back at home with his family and was finding his feet in the real world.
