A Hutt City Councillor says the man who was killed in Petone on Friday had changed in the last six months and the housing development where he lived was "a recipe for disaster".
Police were called to the scene on Jackson Street about 9:50pm on Friday, where a 71-year-old man was found dead.
Police have confirmed he had been decapitated.
Hutt City Councillor Tui Lewis communicated with the elderly resident over email and Facebook when he contacted her about issues and community subjects.
She had first met him at community working bees, where he liked to photograph the action.
"Something was changing there, things were going down.
Grisly details have emerged about the homicide near Wellington on Friday night.
"He disappeared, he was absent from everywhere," Ms Lewis said about the man she would have previously described as "vocal".
Ms Lewis was at a clean-up of the creek behind the scene on Jackson St on Saturday, saying she had a gut feeling she knew who had died when she saw the cordons.
She said a stream of people with mental health issues had moved into the state housing development in recent times, calling it a "recipe for disaster."
THINGS HAVE GONE WRONG
Ms Lewis said the man didn't seem the type to be caught up in drugs and wasn't aware of any criminal ties.
"Things have gone wrong there, I don't know what he was involved in," she said.
Ms Lewis labelled synthetic cannabis in New Zealand a "growing epidemic."
She said the community is hurting following the incident.
A resident of the housing development said the man that was killed had "a good heart."
He used to run a taxi service for his neighbours to get to the supermarket, she said.
She said she didn't believe the news shared by her neighbour when he told her the man had been decapitated.
"I just hung up. I think that's the most shocking thing." The resident said police are called to the flats around twice a month.
She said she didn't want to share her name for fear of retaliation.
"You don't know what they're like around here," she told 1 NEWS.
NO GANG CONNECTION
Today, police said that "neither the deceased nor the 41-year-old man who was arrested on Saturday are gang members."
Police say the scene examination at the Jackson Street Flats is still ongoing, and they expect to formally announce the identity of the victim tomorrow.
The arrested man will be re-appearing in the Hutt Valley District Court tomorrow, he is linked to the incident but faces unrelated charges.
Police say it is an isolated incident and there is no risk to the public.
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