Family of alzheimers sufferer Fiona Wills who disappeared on her family's Te Pohue farm and garden 15 months ago say the initial search and rescue procedures were not up to scratch and should be modified to make searches more effective in the future.
The concerns were expressed as an inquest started in Hastings today, relating to the December 9, 2014, disappearance and presumed death of 77-year-old Mrs Mills, mother of Federated Farmers immediate-past national president Bruce Wills.
She was last seen alive in the early evening as she left her house to feed her chooks in a nearby run.
Despite a search started about half-an-hour later, soon involving police searchers and LandSAR volunteers and eventually dozens of friends, neighbours and other volunteers around Trelinnoe Station and its associated gardens, no trace was ever found of the missing woman.
Fit and active, she suffered advanced alzheimers and required fulltime family and nursing care, and according to evidence had recently been assessed as needing placement care, although grand-daughter Kate Wills, the last to see her alive, said that because of the condition, Mrs Wills probably would not have been aware of that position.