'Criminal option' in play in search for Lucas

Jessica Ward (L) wants Gisborne residents to take five minutes out to have a look in their sheds to see if Lucas has taken shelter there. Photo / Alan Gibson

Police searching for missing Gisborne boy Lucas Ward have for the first time admitted they are considering a "criminal option" in his disappearance.

However Gisborne police area commander Inspector Sam Aberahama told a media conference they have no evidence to suggest there was any foul play involved.

He also appealed for two kayakers seen on the Waimata River to come forward.

A local resident told police he had seen the two men about 3pm, the same time Lucas went missing.

But Mr Aberahama stressed he did not believe the two kayakers were involved in any way.

He said Lucas's bike which he had been playing on was on the top of the pathway leading down to the jetty on his grandparents' property.

A packet of chips that he had been given by his grandmother was found in the river.

Mother asks public for help

Yesterday Lucas's mother spoke of how the confident 4-year-old was "not too fearful" of straying from her side, and happy to wander off for conversations with strangers.

Mrs Ward and her ex-partner Damon Ward yesterday joined Mr Aberahama in appealing for sightings of Lucas, who disappeared from his grandmother's Graham Rd home in the suburb of Kaiti around 3pm on Tuesday.

"The last few days have been awful as we all look for our little boy," Mrs Ward said.

"Lucas is loved by all of his family and we are missing him dreadfully.

The couple, who have two other children, Alex, 8, and Raegan, 14, did not cry, still holding out hope that their son would be found alive.

Mr Ward made a plea to parents: "Ask your kids if they know a hide-out where a little boy might go, somewhere which might attract a young mind to go and suss out ... even if it's a place you don't think you need to look, I think those are the places we need to look."

Mr Aberahama said the case was still "very much a missing person's inquiry" rather than anything sinister.

"We must remain optimistic that we will find Lucas but as time passes we also acknowledge our concern for the well-being of this little boy.

"We have no indication of foul play but we are very worried that Lucas has had an accident, could be lying injured somewhere or has got trapped somewhere."

Victoria Childcare and Education Centre manager Lisette Megridge said Lucas had never wandered off from kindergarten.

"Parents dropping their kids off say the children are fascinated when his picture comes up on TV ... it's quite exciting for them because they don't understand and you can't explain it to them.

"We just have to keep going. We're all just devastated, it's a huge knock-back to lose a little person.

"He made a big impact in everyone's lives," she said.

"Everybody is feeling like there has been a huge hole ripped out."

Ms Megridge described Lucas as a very confident little boy.

"He was a fantastic, an inspirational little man, very inquisitive."

Lucas, who had attended kindergarten three days a week since February last year, was friends with most of the children.

"He didn't have a best friend, he liked everybody."

It is believed Lucas could have wandered up towards his brother's school on Graham Rd as he and his mother often picked him up around that time of day.

Possible sightings of Lucas, reported by members of the public, on Tuesday afternoon happened along a "direct route" between his grandparents' house and his father's home on Owen Rd.

"From my place, he's walked up to the corner of the road before but I've always come out to get him, otherwise he would have gone further," Mr Ward said.

A police dive team scoured the Waimata River behind Lucas' grandparents' house for the second day yesterday, and will review the search efforts today. Police continued to go door to door speaking to residents.

The Wards said their son was scared of the water. He was booked to start swimming lessons but was not confident enough to put his head under.