A post mortem examination will be carried out today on a body Police located in rural bush 20 minutes east of Kaitaia.
Police say they had been searching the area since Wednesday with cadaver dogs and a specialist search unit from Auckland.
Detective Senior Sergeant Rhys Johnston says a scene examination will continue at the site.
“We believe the body may have been there for some time and it has been a methodical process to preserve any potential evidence.
We have been assisted today by a Pathologist and several scientists from ESR in Auckland.”
Police say formally identifying the deceased will take some time and no more information will be released until that process has been completed.