Police have confirmed that one of the three people found dead in a Waitomo District house was wanted man Ross Bremner and an elderly couple who were not known to him.

Police were hunting Bremner, 34, in connection to the double stabbing of his parents in the Waikato.

Waikato Police acting district commander Naila Hassan said it is possible they did not know him at all.

Police believe all three people died several days ago.

Police do not know why Bremner travelled to the location.

Hassan said it was an "utterly tragic outcome".

She said the investigation had been thorough and denied police did not act quickly enough.

Hassan said police had started their investigation in Otorohanga but had teams across Waikato looking for Bremner.

Hassan said she was "absolutely confident" with the work police had down in the past couple of days.

She said the scene was spread across a large area.

The person who discovered the bodies was understandably distressed.

Police are liaising with the whanau of the victims and supporting them, and the person who discovered the bodies.

"Our priority now is to establish the full timeline and circumstances of what has taken place...

"I know the community will be in a state of shock about what has occurred here."

The bodies are still at the property. Forensic experts are there now.

Earlier a neighbour said that the elderly couple were "lovely, bubbly people who enjoyed darts and tennis."

Waitomo darts club member Sharon Te Ngare said the couple should have been at the King Country Area Darts meet today but they were not.

"They would have been here today.

"They're lovely, they were really lovely. They retired from darts but still came in to support us."

Te Ngare, who has known the couple for 20 years, said the woman had just had her 80th birthday and her husband was a little bit older. She said the woman used a walking frame to get around and her husband was an area manager for the Clubs New Zealand Darts Association.

She didn't know how Bremner knew the couple but didn't think they were related.

She didn't think the couple had any children of their own but they had raised a girl who is now in her 30s.

Neighbour Allan Smith said the man and woman who died in their cottage were a loving husband and wife and their demise has sent shock waves through the tiny community.

Smith, a farmer in the coastal settlement south of Kawhia, said he grew up with the dead woman.

Another neighbour on Kawhia Harbour Rd raised the alarm last night after she visited the couple who also spent time in Te Kuiti.

Smith said he was alerted to the situation by a phone call from another neighbour around midnight as news of the tragedy spread.

"It was an absolute shock last night and it was quite scary."

Smith said the dead woman was a well respected member of the community who came from a "full of fun" family.

"They were a bubbly family. They were a sporting family, good at tennis."

Family had gathered at the scene to wait for the couple's bodies to be removed.

Smith said everyone was coping as best they could.

He said the strength in small communities was that everyone pulled together in such difficult times.

Waikato Police Acting District Commander Naila Hassan said the discovery of the bodies was made by a person visiting the property.

The crime scene remains under police guard, with cordons in place on Kawhia Harbour Rd near Willow Point Rd.