KEY POINTS:
Florida police have received tips from the public after appealing for information on New Zealand teacher Leonard Taku, 45, who has been missing since Christmas Day.
Fox News yesterday reported Florida police had received tips in the wake of their appeal.
Mr Taku was holidaying in Florida, and was last seen at a car rental counter at Tampa Airport on December 25. He was extending for the third time his contract for a luxury Chrysler Crossfire convertible.
The car has since been found abandoned, undamaged, in the Ocala National Forest, but Tampa Airport Police Sergeant Peter Bright told Fox no clues were recovered because the area around the car had been cleared with a controlled burn.
A United States gay and lesbian website, watermarkonline.com, reported that police in Tampa and Orlando had sought assistance from the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community "to locate a missing endangered gay man, Leonard Taku".
The North American Missing Persons website said he sometimes used the name Lennid Taku. "Officials have found several online profiles for Taku and believe he may have met local individuals through various websites for gay males," the website reported.
His family in New Zealand have said he loved America because it was a place in which a person could lose themselves.
Mr Taku carried a laptop computer and records show somebody checked his emails on December 28.
His credit card was used in mid-January at a five-star hotel, but his sister, Dolly Niemi, told the Herald he usually used cheaper accommodation to save money for "fine dining".
Ms Niemi recently flew to Florida to meet investigators and said they had assured her they were following every possible lead. "It's nerve-racking, the length of time we've been through," she told Fox News.
- NZPA
