KEY POINTS:
Police investigating the sudden disappearance of deaf Christchurch woman Emma Agnew will use a specialist team tomorrow to trawl through the city's refuse at a North Canterbury landfill site.
A team of 44 police, using dogs and a helicopter today completed searching the Spencerville and Brooklands area on the northern fringes of Christchurch - a vast 47-hectare area of forest park, scrub and beachside camping area.
None of Emma's belongings was found after three days of intensive searching in sweltering northwesterly conditions.
A police dive team assessed waterways in the area by air today and will begin searching specific points of interest on Sunday.
Officer in charge Detective Inspector Tom Fitzgerald conceded today it was "disappointing" that nothing had been found eight days after Ms Agnew went missing but said "there's a long way to go yet".
Mr Fitzgerald said the switch of focus to the Kate Valley landfill, a huge repository for household refuse from throughout the greater Christchurch region, was prompted from " a build-up of information over the last week".
They would be searching rubbish from certain areas of Christchurch, but he declined to be more specific.
Police refuse to say they are looking for Ms Agnew's body but admit, as they have from the day she was reported missing, they have "grave fears" for her wellbeing.
"You, as much as me and everyone else in the country (have) fears for Emma's safety, obviously. We're into day eight," Mr Fitzgerald told journalists at a news conference this afternoon.
Ms Agnew, a profoundly deaf 20-year-old, hasn't communicated with anyone since just after 10.30am on Thursday November 15 when she texted family to say she was planning to meet a man interested in buying her car.
She relied on two cellphones for communication and these have yet to be found.
Her partially burnt red Mazda Familia was found in Bromley Park, eastern Christchurch, later that night.
Police believe Ms Agnew's car was driven around the northern suburbs of Christchurch during the day she disappeared and may have been abandoned in Bromley Park well before it was found ablaze.
Police remain adamant they have no evidence to suggest that Ms Agnew may have engineered her own disappearance.
"There is nothing that we have discovered that would (indicate) that Emma has run away," Mr Fitzgerald reiterated today.
"Anything is possible. But...on the facts I have there is nothing in her behaviour to indicate that she has, for her own reasons, disappeared."
Her bank accounts hadn't been accessed since her disappearance.
Mr Fitzgerald said sightings of Ms Agnew's car were still a key component of the police investigation and he appealed to the public to "think hard" about anything they may have seen.
Distinctive pink cushions emblazoned with the word "Roxy" were recovered with her red Mazda, but were not in the back window where they usually were when Ms Agnew was driving.
"At this stage we really need sightings of Emma's vehicle," Mr Fitzgerald said.
"It's critical that people sit down and really think hard about where they were, not just in the Brooklands or Spencerville area where we've been searching, between 10.30am and lunchtime (on Thursday November 15), but also back in the Christchurch area."
He said the car could have been back in Christchurch anytime from lunchtime on.
Mr Fitzgerald said an attempt had been made to torch the car, but damage was confined to the front seat and it was unlikely an accelerant had been used to start the blaze.
It was also unlikely that the fire was an "opportunist" arson by a passerby.
Mr Fitzgerald again urged anyone who knows anything about Ms Agnew's "completely uncharacteristic" disappearance to contact police.
"In scenarios of foul play, he said "there will be someone who knows.
"People that do this, if that is the scenario, they talk, they act differently and people will know.
"People need to think if this was their daughter, would they want someone to tell the police," he said.
- NZPA
