Missing teen Maia Johnston suffered broken limbs in suspected fall, found alive in ‘remote’ Upper Hutt area by Search and Rescue

• Maia Johnston, 19, has been been found alive after going missing on Saturday evening.
• Mother Amy Walsh said up to 100 family and community members joined the search.
• Police confirmed she was found in a “remote area” and their first priority was getting her to a medical assessment.

A teenager missing for two nights in Upper Hutt has been found alive, but has suffered several broken limbs in a suspected fall, her mother says.

Maia Johnston, 19, was found by a police search and rescue team in the dense, bushy hills surrounding Tōtara Park this afternoon, her mum Amy Walsh confirmed.

Walsh told RNZ her daughter had suffered a broken leg and some broken ribs, and said it seemed she may have had a fall.

Family members and friends embraced Johnston as she was carried out of the bush by search and rescue, and loaded into an ambulance.

It’s understood she was being taken to hospital and treated for broken bones and a split lip.

Walsh said she was in disbelief when police told her that her daughter had been found alive.

“I thought she was dead,” she told RNZ.

She said other than her physical injuries, her daughter was well and “cracking jokes”.

Walsh earlier told the Herald it would take time to extract Johnston from the bush.

“But she is alive and that’s all that matters.”

Maia Johnston, 19, has been found alive after two nights of searching.

Walsh said Johnston was found by Search and Rescue.

The Hamilton woman disappeared in Upper Hutt on Saturday evening sometime between 8pm and 8.30pm, telling loved ones she was going for a walk to get some space.

Her family later realised she did not have her phone or wallet with her, and had gone out in just shorts and a T-shirt.

Police said in a statement she had been found “a short time ago in a remote area and is currently speaking with rescue staff”.

“Police’s priority is to now get her to medical staff so she can be assessed,” they said. “We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Upper Hutt community for the way they have rallied around search staff and the family.”

Family friend Susan Stephenson told RNZ Johnston was being helicoptered out, but did not know the nature of her injuries, or how she got to the location where she has been found. “Police came in to let us know that she has been found, and she has been found alive. It was just ecstatic and we were hugging strangers, it was just amazing,” Stevenson said. Johnston’s employer at Seed Waikato, Tania Pointon, said the charity’s staff and board were relieved.

“Maia is a beloved and highly valued kaimahi [employee] at Seed Waikato. She is a passionate community contributor with a love for community, te ao Māori and manaakitanga for others,” she told RNZ.

“She has a gift for storytelling and amplifying the voices of our young people. Maia is vibrant, energetic and hard-working. We mihi to all of the community members who have been searching for and are so happy she has been found.”

It is understood Johnston was found up the Cannon Point track, which zigzags uphill from Tulsa Park through private land and the Akatarawa Forest to take walkers to the historic Birchville Dam.

The popular track is considered an intermediate-level trail.

Johnston’s last known sighting, confirmed from CCTV, was on Tacoma Drive, just minutes' walk from Tulsa Park where the start of the Cannon Point trail can be found.

Since Saturday evening, members of the public have joined the search in the hundreds, searching through pouring rain and darkness.

Maia Johnston (left) disappeared from mum Amy Walsh's house in Tōtara Park, Upper Hutt, on Saturday evening.

This morning a search base was set up at Tōtara Park School hall, where strangers gathered to offer their help and take instructions on where to search.

People were also asked to doorknock and hand out flyers to help spread the word about Johnston’s disappearance.

This morning Walsh made a heartfelt plea to her daughter to come home, saying she didn’t believe Johnston had simply gone to a party or gotten in someone’s car, but that it was possible.

“Maia, if you’re out there and you did get in someone’s car and you now feel embarrassed because there are hundreds of people looking for you and you’re all over the news, just come home,” she said.

“Maia if you’re out there, come home. You’re not in trouble, just come home.”

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.