Search comes to a sad end

The search for missing Rotorua woman Mabel Jamieson has ended with tears, relief and unease from two residents who have spent the past week unknowingly living metres from her body.

Mrs Jamieson, a partially blind 79-year-old, was found dead by a team of searchers going door-to-door along Amohau St just before 6pm on Monday.

After asking permission to search the yard of Beverly Te Hau's home, a searcher found Mrs Jamieson's body in long grass between a garage and bushes on her property's boundary.

Detective Sergeant John Wilson, who led the search, said although a post mortem examination was yet to be carried out, foul play was not suspected.

Mr Wilson said it was thought Mrs Jamieson had set off from her Larch St home on Tuesday morning to Parksyde Older Persons Community Centre in Tarewa Rd as planned but had taken a wrong turn.

It is thought she then ended up next to the garage on Ms Te Hau's property where she could have died from hypothermia.

Mr Wilson said police and Mrs Jamieson's family had realised her chances of survival were slim.

"We were starting to reach that point of 'where do we look next?"'

He said Ms Te Hau's house had been searched at the end of last week but the body was in an area that could easily have been missed.

Ms Te Hau did not know Mrs Jamieson was missing until Monday afternoon and was staggered when her body was found on her property. She said her dog, Bouncer, had been acting strangely and she now understood why.

"He wouldn't go outside and then when he went outside he wouldn't come back in. He was just acting strange as if someone had been here."

She said the situation made her feel a little sick. She said she would feel better once a Maori tohunga had blessed her property.

"I'm kicking myself I didn't find her first ... those ladies who found her, they are angels. I hope the family can grieve now they know where she is."

Mrs Jamieson's body was metres from a neighbour's front door. The resident, who wanted to be known only as Donna, said she felt uneasy knowing the body had been so close.

Mr Wilson said Mrs Jamieson's family were devastated last night.

The search had become personal for a lot of the police and volunteers who were desperate to find her.

"We are all pretty upset, really. But the family is happy we have managed to reunite them with Mabel."

- DAILY POST