KEY POINTS:
After a number of years and no leads in two high-profile missing persons cases, police are offering a total of $100,000 in reward money for information on the cases.
Kaye Stewart went missing in the Hutt Valley in 2005, and Nicholas Pike disappeared in Tauranga in 2002.
Police announced today an offer of $50,000 to anyone with information leading to either the discovery of their bodies, or to a conviction of someone responsible for their disappearances or deaths.
Both rewards include the possible immunity for anyone who may have been an accomplice to the crime, but is not the principal offender, and is the first person to come forward.
Lower Hutt Senior Sergeant Ross Levy said police strongly suspected Mrs Stewart was dead.
"Given that ... almost two years have passed with public activity and weather changes in the park, it is surprising that no evidence relating to her disappearance has been discovered."
Mrs Stewart, then 62, vanished after asking a Conservation Department worker for directions in the Rimutaka Forest Park, near Wainuiomata, on June 13, 2005.
The retired physiotherapist was wearing a dark blue nylon jacket and dark track pants when she left on her walk.
She was caucasian, of medium build and 5ft7in tall with greying light brown hair.
Mrs Stewart's family raised the alarm when she didn't turn up to meet one of her daughters at 12.30pm.
A four-day search involving 40 searchers, police dogs, helicopters, heat-seeking cameras and police divers was launched the day she went missing, and another intense search was carried out two weeks later.
In the months following, family, friends and volunteers spent their weekends combing the park and its surrounding areas, but no trace of was ever found.
Nicholas Pike, from Palmerston North, was 22 when he vanished five years ago today.
Detective Sergeant David Clifford of the Palmerston North police said Mr Pike had been spoken to by police in the early hours of March 15, 2002, at the Mt Maunganui wharf.
He was on a night out with an 18-year-old woman and two men, all local residents, and was the sober driver for the evening.
Mr Clifford said Mr Pike and the three associates then went to a Tauranga house, which is where he was last seen.
"There are some people in that group who haven't been totally forthcoming with us, and we're hoping this approach with the award and the immunity from prosecution may make them think about giving us some information," Mr Clifford said.
He said Mr Pike was caucasian, about 6ft tall and thinly built, with very short hair and a large tattoo of a dog on his back.
"It's important that Nick's returned to his family so they can mourn him, because the family and police both believe that he's dead."
People with information about the disappearance of Kaye Stewart have been asked to ring 0800 691 102, and anyone with information about Nicholas Pike's disappearance should ring the Palmerston North CIB on (06) 351 3852.
- NZPA
