Detectives in Northern Ireland were tonight hunting a killer who beat a man to death.
The 33-year-old victim's body was found at a house in Lisburn, Co Antrim by officers probing a road crash.
With the chief suspect's identity known to police, seven houses have been searched in a bid to capture the fugitive.
Chief Inspt Raymond Murray said: "The nature of injuries to the victim are extensive in the extreme.
"The suspect is bound to have been extensively bloodstained."
Police were called to a hit and run collision on the town's Hillhall Road last night.
During their inquiries a member of the public alerted to disturbances on nearby Church Lane.
The bludgeoned body of the murder victim was found a short time later at a rented house in the area.
Some sort of weapon was used in the attack, Mr Murray revealed. He added that the car involved in the accident, a red Volkswagen Golf, was linked to the murder.
The vehicle was found abandoned at a house close to the scene of the killing. There were also reports of clothes being discarded from the car before it stopped.
Detectives refused to give any details about a motive, but no sectarian or paramilitary involvement is suspected.