"Dead" man applies for embalming job

Wolford, 46, last year faked his death in Colorado to avoid payment of $65,000 in child support arrears and student loans. He was convicted on forgery and impersonation charges but breached bail before he was sentenced and left the country.

He is now wanted by police in the US and has since been sighted in various New Zealand locations, from Kaitaia to Carterton.

Wolford was a former director and embalmer for Evergreen Funeral Home and Blunt Mortuary in Colorado Springs.

He forged his death certificate, citing his date of death as January 16 last year from cardiac arrest at a hospital in the city.

His home address on the certificate was Blunt Mortuary, where he was listed as having been cremated.

Mr Giddens said Wolford had faxed his CV to Carterton from the Philippines last month and, despite a notification from the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand to be cautious of international work applicants, a date was set for an interview in the town.

"There were no specifics in the notification, like a name, and after reading his CV he seemed a likely candidate for the job. I was wary all the same and Googled his name. That's when it fell apart for him as far as our company was concerned."

Wolford has a criminal history that also includes probation for threatening to kill a judge and is in New Zealand on a visitor's permit until January.

According to an email he sent to an Auckland consultancy, he arrived in the country on October 5 and besides his Carterton visit has also since been sighted in Kaitaia, Auckland and Wellington.

Detective Colin Rudd, of the Wellington branch of Interpol, said investigators are watching Wolford but can not take action unless American authorities sought to extradite him.

Mr Giddens, who has run Richmond Funeral Home beside his wife Jenny for the past 11 years in a service that started in the town in 1887, said the position is still vacant for an embalmer and funeral director though he is confident it will soon be filled.