This photo, taken yesterday, shows the outfit Maia Johnston was wearing when she left the Tōtara Park house.
This photo, taken yesterday, shows the outfit Maia Johnston was wearing when she left the Tōtara Park house.
Maia Johnston, 19, has been missing for more than 12 hours after going out for a walk last night.
Desperate family and community members have been searching for her throughout the night in the pouring rain.
Johnston was last seen wearing a green singlet, black jean shorts, Converse shoes, and carrying a black T-shirt with a skull on it.
Desperate family and members of the Upper Hutt community have been out all night searching in the pouring rain for a young woman who failed to return home from a walk after Christmas drinks.
Maia Johnston, 19, has now been missing for more than 12 hours, having last been seen at Akron Grove, Tōtara Park about 8pm when she told family she was heading out for a walk to get some space.
Johnston’s family only later realised the teen, who is completely unfamiliar with the area, left without her phone or wallet.
“We had our family Christmas Day yesterday, she’s from Hamilton,” said mum Amy Walsh.
Johnston and a friend went to nearby California Park after a few drinks between 4.30pm and 6.30pm, and had another drink at home after returning, but Walsh believed Johnston would not have been particularly intoxicated as she had not been drinking for the two hours she was at the park.
That evening, Johnston said she wanted some space and left for a walk, carrying nothing but a black T-shirt with a skull on it and wearing black jean shorts, a green shoestring singlet and Converse shoes.
Maia Johnston, 19, disappeared after going out for a walk from her mother's home in Akron Grove, Tōtara Park, Upper Hutt on the evening of December 21, 2024.
Johnston’s friend said it was not unusual for her to take time out and go for walks, but Walsh said Johnston has never “gone missing” before.
After half an hour her friend went to check on her, and about 9pm it began raining so Walsh jumped in the car, barefoot and wearing just a T-shirt and shorts, thinking she would need to pick the girls up.
“I found a very wet child looking for her friend and we haven’t stopped searching since.”
Family and friends have posted on local community Facebook groups asking people to look out for Johnston, and members of the community have been out helping with the search overnight.
This photo, taken yesterday, shows the outfit Maia Johnston was wearing when she left the Tōtara Park house.
Walsh said she tried to report the matter to police overnight but they were more concerned with reports of a man in a yellow high-vis jacket acting suspiciously.
She said she was even questioned by a police officer while out searching because she was wearing a yellow rain jacket.
Police contacted Walsh this morning asking her to come in and fill out paperwork about the disappearance, she said.
Walsh is gravely concerned for her daughter.
She believed it was possible her daughter had suffered an accident and was stuck somewhere, hurt.
She did not believe it was possible Johnston was drunk enough to have fallen asleep somewhere, particularly given the poor weather overnight, and said she would surely have woken up well before now if that was the case.
“Just please come home,” Walsh begged her daughter.
Police have put out a statement about Johnston’s disappearance this morning, saying her family are anxious to find her.
“If you have any information that could help our enquiries, please update us online now or call 105.
“Please use the reference number 241222/0237.”
Members of the public have been commenting on the Upper Hutt Facebook pages, saying they have been out looking for Johnston as well.
“I’ll stay out as long as I’m needed to get her home safe,” said one man.
Another person said they and their partner had been out searching with their baby daughter in the car with them.
“My son and his friend came home late last night really concerned, as they had been helping to look for her last night. I hope she is [okay]. I’ll send the boys back out today to look,” one woman wrote.
Other people have been searching along the Hutt River, under bridges, in paddocks, and throughout multiple Upper Hutt locations.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
