Cold-case team search for Te Puke man

The five-year-old disappearance of Te Paewhenua (Bobby) Roberts remains a mystery despite the efforts yesterday of Tauranga Youth Search and Rescue (YSAR) members to unearth new clues.

However, the cold-case search for Mr Roberts, who vanished in the Kaimai Ranges, will continue and YSAR members will visit the area again early next year.

Steve Campbell, police constable and Tauranga YSAR volunteer co-ordinator, said the 15 students used clue awareness and search methods they had learned through national search and rescue training.

The team, working shoulder to shoulder, covered an area of up to 400m by 50m where Mr Roberts could have wandered from his last known location.

Nothing has been seen or heard of the Te Puke 53-year-old since November 30, 2004. His van smashed through the brick and steel lookout barrier, plunging more than 100m down the bush-clad cliff. He was thrown from the van but a four-day search did not find him.

In July 2005, his clothes were found stacked next to a log - leading to speculation that he discarded them because he was suffering from hypothermia.

Mr Campbell said cold cases such as this offered the family no closure and search and rescue crew were keen to have it resolved.

- NZPA