The body of teenager Marie Davis provided no clues about how she died, a Christchurch District Court depositions hearing was told today.
Her body was found in the Waimakariri River last April, two weeks after she disappeared.
Forensic pathologist Dr Martin Sage said her cause of death was "anatomically unascertained".
He said he viewed the body in the river on April 17, from a jet boat. She was a slim teenager, naked except for jewellery and covered by brown river silt.
She had one upper eyelid extended and discoloured. This could represent an injury from a blow but he could not be sure because of prolonged immersion in water, and decomposition.
She had eight bruises on her legs, five on her arms, and one on her back. There were no cuts or stab wounds, and no bruises on the throat. There were no blunt force injuries to her head.
There were no drugs in the body, but a low level of alcohol. The lungs were flooded with fluid but it was not a definite explanation for her death.
There were no genital injuries.
Scientific evidence related to the case was suppressed on the first day of the hearing on Monday.
Dean Stewart Cameron, a 38-year-old roading worker, is charged with the rape and murder of Miss Davis.
A woman, whose house Cameron visited frequently, told the court about a duvet which went missing from her garage. She identified the duvet from a photograph as being one of the items found in the Waimakariri River.
She said Cameron had been paranoid about the police following his car, and looking for him with a helicopter.
"I said if he's done nothing wrong, he shouldn't worry about it," she said.
The crown is calling evidence from 33 witnesses at the depositions hearing before Percy Acton-Adams and Nick Atkins, Justices of the Peace. The hearing is expected to end early next week.
