Woman, 18, has hands and feet severed before she's burned alive in her car

A woman's hands and feet were severed before the car she was thrown in was set ablaze.

The body of 18-year-old Ariki Rigby was discovered by a dog walker in early September in a remote part of Havelock North, a town in New Zealand's North Island.

Officers initially mistook Ariki's mutilated body for a sheep carcass, and the car she was torched in was set to be scrapped.

Speaking on true crime podcast, The Felon Show, her sister Anaherā revealed how Ariki's killer mutilated her corpse.

“You know they do say that she had broken bones. I suppose they forgot to mention that she also had her hands and feet cut off,” Anaherā said.

She added that Ariki could have easily remained missing if it hadn't been for the dog walker.

Her mutilated corpse was found stuffed under the driver's seat (Newshub)

At the time of the killing, Ariki had been battling mental health issues, but was attending church meetings and rediscovering her faith.

She was butchered while visiting her dad and other relatives in the area she grew up in.

Anaherā recalled her last memories of her sister, seeing her in the driveway before she head out on the trip.

She explained: “The last memory I have is of her walking out my doors and jumping in her car.

"The window won’t go up so I had to put a rubbish bag over it. It was raining. That was a sign she shouldn’t go anywhere.

“I was begging her to stay but she didn’t want to. I kept trying to tell her to stay.

She had been visiting family at the time (Facebook)

“She wanted to go to Hastings and I told her, ‘You got beaten up there’."

Ariki spent the first week staying with her father, but she then ended up staying at the home of a friend.

It was then that Anaherā began having difficulties getting in contact with her.

Anaherā says she believes her sister's killer was gang-linked, but admitted finding a number of troubling messages from Ariki to friends by accessing her social media accounts.

“My sister was going to meet up with somebody saying things like ‘should I bring my shotgun’, ‘I don’t care just kill me dog I’m exhausted asf just kill me’.”

In recent weeks, Ariki's family met the dog walker who discovered her butchered body.

Anaherā said the individual was "in touch with his wairua [spiritual] side" and heard Ariki "screaming at him" psychically. He also claims to have had a psychic conversation with the slain girl.

Ariki's body was found under the driver's seat, but her hands and feet had been removed.