Michael Edwards, Shane Edwards' older brother, flew in from Australia to help with the search. Photo / Mead Norton
BTG 16Jun22 - Michael Edwards, Shane Edwards' older brother, flew in from Australia to help with the search.
Police are following three more potential sightings of missing Tokoroa man Shane Edwards, including one person who thinks they may have picked Edwards up hitchhiking.
The 42-year-old father "vanished" from his Tokoroa home on May 14 and has not been heard from since. There have been no confirmed sightings of him.
On Friday, Detective Sergeant David Whitecliffe-Davies said police were following three potential sightings of him in Auckland, Maketu and Waikaremoana. Members of the public had come forward and said they had seen someone matching Edwards' description who seemed "a little bit out of place".
Police had since negated a sighting in Whakatāne as someone else after it was reported to police on Thursday.
Shane Edwards has connections in Rotorua, Tokoroa, Turangi, Taupo and Christchurch. Photo / Supplied
Today Whitecliffe-Davies said police were following three more potential sightings of Edwards in Tirau, Maketu and Auckland.
The person in Tirau said they believed they saw him "possibly a few days after" Edwards went missing on May 14.
"They think they picked up someone hitchhiking from Tirau to Tokoroa, but they dropped him off in Putāruru because that was as far as they were going," Whitecliffe-Davies said.
He said this was "definitely something positive to look through".
The person dropped the hitchhiker off at Countdown in Putāruru, Whitecliffe-Davies said.
"He jumped out there and then went across the road from there."
Police were checking if there was CCTV footage in the area, he said.
Whitecliffe-Davies said people had called in saying they had seen someone who matched Edwards' description and did not look like they were from the area. The person in Auckland said they believed they saw him on June 13 and the person in Maketu believed they saw him about three weeks ago.
"[We are] just trying to do a bit of work around the CCTV cameras around there just to see if we can either get an identification on someone and confirm it is not him or, fingers crossed, get an identification and confirm it is him."
Whitecliffe-Davies encouraged people to not hesitate to come forward if they believed they had any information.
"However little information you think it might be or how certain you are, just chuck it out there and we can easily try and confirm it or negate it."
Dr Michael Edwards flew to New Zealand from Australia to help with the search of his younger brother. Photo / Mead Norton
Edwards' brother, Dr Michael Edwards, said he was "extremely pleased" with the community who were "keeping an eye out for him".
Michael is flying back to Australia tonight after arriving in New Zealand on June 9 to help with the search for his younger brother.
Now he was leaving, Michael said: "Obviously [I] still miss little bro immensely - love him to bits."
On behalf of his family, Michael said he was pleased with what they had achieved over the past week such as door-knocking, speaking to whānau from different areas and "covering a lot of ground so that we can effectively eliminate those areas he may have likely gone to".
Michael plans to return to New Zealand later this year.
Shane was wearing a brown Swanndri jersey with a tinge of green, light blue jeans, black Converse Chuck Taylor shoes and a black beanie when he went missing.
He has been described as lean and between 1.80m and 1.85m tall, with dark, short, spiky hair, brown eyes, olive to white-coloured skin and no piercings or tattoos.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Dave Whitecliffe-Davies on 021 191 0875 or police on 105 and reference police file number 220518/6338.
Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously to CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111 or through their website.
