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Police say they are closing in on a man wanted for the abduction of a 14-year old Mt Maunganui schoolgirl after a reported sighting today.
Tauranga teenager Julie Davis has been missing for a week with Craig Howard, 41. Police yesterday issued a warrant for Howard's arrest after numerous pleas for him and Julie to contact police went unanswered.
He is wanted for the abduction for a person under 16 years.
Detective Constable Pete Sweeney this afternoon said Howard's grey Subaru car had been recovered, and police did not believe he had access to any other vehicles.
A member of the public had reported seeing Howard and Julie walking into the Rotorua city centre around 10am today, Mr Sweeney said.
He asked anyone else who spotted the couple to contact police.
Howard was dressed in black, including a black beanie hat, carrying a grey and red backpack. Julie was wearing a large over-sized purple sweatshirt which reached her knees and a white hat.
Last night, Mr Sweeney urged Howard to give himself up.
"It's time to realise that it's come to an end. He needs to be going to a police station, making sure Julie gets somewhere safe, and then we can get everything resolved," he said.
Runaway describes 'friendship'
Julie today told a radio station she did not want to go home.
Speaking to Michael Laws on Radio Live this morning, she described her relationship with Craig Howard as "a friendship" and when asked if it was sexual giggled and said "no".
Julie said she had run away "because I don't want to be at home".
She added: "Some part of me feels bad about it because they are my family but I don't want to go home. I am quite happy where I am."
She said she was in the Waikato and said she and Howard, who knew about the arrest warrant, contacted police yesterday but did not give details of what they told officers working on the case.
Julie also said she knew Howard had been in trouble with police before but it did not bother her.
"He's never given me any reason to doubt him, never given me any reason to feel unsafe," she said.
She said Howard was a "nice man".
"I wouldn't run away with him if he wasn't."
Julie said she would definitely return home tomorrow, and agreed to take Laws' personal cellphone number and call him if the situation changed in any way.
Asked if she enjoyed the media attention, she said: "I did have a bit of a buzz in the beginning because I have never been in the news before. But it is for the wrong reasons."
Family desperate
Julie has been missing for 11 days, and her family are desperate for her return. "We love her and we want her home," a family spokesman said. "He's 41, she's 14 and it's not right. Her 6-year-old brother has been crying at night and blaming himself."
The spokesman, who did not want to be named, said the family suspected the worst of the relationship between Julie and Howard.
"It's not right. It's just not. All we can do is wait, pray and hope."
He said Julie had given no indication she planned to run away and had sent text messages to relatives last Sunday to say she was sorry and was coming home.
There was a reported sighting of the pair at the Miranda Hot Springs last week Wednesday, but police have had no contact from them since Julie disappeared on July 4.
Julie met Howard in March while staying with her family at Waingaro Hot Springs, where Howard worked.
They are believed to have met three times before she disappeared from Papamoa, wearing her school uniform.
Howard is Maori, 1.75m tall, of medium build, and said to speak with a slight lisp.
- NZ HERALD STAFF, NZPA
