Kaye’s story
At 10:30 am on 13 June 2005, Kaye Stewart a 62-year-old former all-blacks physiotherapist dropped her daughter off at the Time Out Community Center in Wainuiomata to teach a painting class. Kaye is expected to be back at 12:30pm to pick her daughter up. Kaye who was a keen walker decided to go for a short walk in the Remutaka Forest Park before she needed to return to pick up her daughter.
At 10:45am, Kaye spoke to a DOC worker at the Visitor Information Center, in the Forest Park. He recommended two short walks that could be completed in under an hour, the Nature Trail or Nga Taonga Track, which started near a car park about 2 km away. After speaking with Kaye, the DOC worker was checking that carpark area and noticed Kaye pulling in.
Between 12:30 – 1:15pm, a second DOC worker speaks to Kaye at a work center/bach in the Forest Park. Kaye had stopped to ask for directions to her car. Kaye was given directions, they involved walking along a driveway to the Coast Road, walking to the park’s entrance about 300m to 400m away, then following the sealed Catchpool Valley Road for about 2km to her car, but about 5 minutes later when a third DOC worker drives past there is no one around. By this stage, Kaye was already late to pick up her daughter.
At about 1:45pm, Kayes daughter and a couple of friends drive to the park, but there was no sign of Kaye. As there was no cell coverage, they briefly leave the park to contact police.
At 2pm the police were contacted. Within 20 minutes police had picked up Kaye’s daughter and returned to the park to search for Kaye.
At 2:30 pm police officially logged their search.
By 4:00pm a search and rescue team including dogs were at the park along with Kayes friends and family searching for any sign of Kaye, but they couldn’t find her.
What would follow would be an extensive search by many.
More than 40 specialist and LandSAR searchers combed trails, tracks, bush, logging areas, roadside verges, and streams. Police divers cleared the Catchpool stream and into the Wainuiomata River. Police search dogs were used along with helicopters and heat-seeking camera equipment.
Kaye was lightly clad and not equipped for nights in the bush. The weather during the search was very cold, wet and windy. At this stage, police did not believe that there was any foul play involved. Kaye’s locked silver Toyota Corolla hatchback was found in the Catchpool carpark that day, some reports say the daughter found it, others say it was searchers.
Police were seeking information about a quad bike that was seen driving down Forest Rd towards the Coast Rd about 1:45 – 1:50pm on Monday 13 June (the day Kaye went missing), also a grey vehicle on the same stretch of road going in the opposite direction about 30 minutes later.
On June 16, 2005, police announced that they have suspended the search and rescue phase of the search. Lower Hutt CIB is continuing background inquiries into Mrs. Stewarts unexplained disappearance. As part of the inquiry, police were appealing to anyone in the park that day, and others using Coast Rd to contact them.
On 28 June 2005, Remutaka Forest Park is closed for two days, while police take a fresh look for signs of Kaye. The search included SAR staff, police divers, a specialist search group, LandSAR volunteers and 20 army personnel. Police said they wanted to make sure they were thorough and hadn’t missed anything.
On 15 March 2007, a $50 000 reward was announced for information leading to the body or conviction of any person responsible for Kayes disappearance or death. The reward included consideration of immunity against prosecution for anyone who is not a principal offender, who is the first person to come forward with information or evidence. The reward was unclaimed and was withdrawn a few months later on 13 July 2007.
On 9 Sep 2008, an episode of sensing murder featuring Kayes disappearance was aired on TV2. It was called “When the trail goes cold”.
On 13 May 2013, Kaye was officially declared dead by Coroner Garry Evans, although her body had never been found. The coroner ruled “Mrs. Stewart had died in the park or in surrounding bushland, but that the place and cause of her death was undetermined”. During the coroners, inquest police had presented four scenarios to the court. Kaye had either met with foul play, got lost in the bush, committed suicide or staged her own disappearance. Police stated that they have no evidence to support any one scenario.
13 May 2013, following the coroners ruling the police released a statement. They state- the following – Kaye Stewart missing persons case remains open and any new information received would be investigated. The inquiry into Kaye’s death was a thorough and comprehensive investigation. In 2011, a comprehensive review of the case was completed, to determine if further lines of inquiry were available to the investigating team. In 2012 the Detective in charge of the review concluded that foul play was most likely.
In May 2015, ten years after Kaye disappeared her family talked publicly for the first time, in hope that it will prompt some fresh leads. The family told reporters at stuff.co.nz stuff.co.nz -family speaks ,that they had heard of some new leads that had surfaced on social media and had passed the information onto the police. They are convinced foul play caused their mothers death, Kayes husband says “I think if we are ever going to find Kaye and get any sort of solution, it will need someone to come forward with something they knew at the time.”.
One of Kayes daughters told reporters “Our object is to find mum. It’s really painful. we want some peace for us and some peace for mum, and be able to lay her to rest with the dignity she deserves”.
Since Kaye went missing, there had been four thorough searches done in the park. Her family searched for 10 months. Police consider that foul play is the most likely of the four scenarios they looked at. There have been other instances since of people missing in the park, all were found.
In June 2015, the police announce that they have some fresh leads in the case, and would be conducting fresh interviews with some of the people they had already questioned 10 years ago.
In 2015, a transcript of police interviews and statements about the case were released by the Ministry of Justice under the official information act.
Police released a transcript of a 2009 interview with the DOC worker who gave Kaye directions to her car.
From an article on Stuff.co.nz with the Doc worker; see stuff.co.nz-police interview
According to a transcript of an interview with ^*&*in April 2009, Detective Anaru Pewhairangi, of the Wainuiomata police, told him police had concerns about his account of where he saw Stewart.
At the time, Police believed his most likely interaction with her occurred at Kereru Corner, near the park’s road end and close to the ford where she parked her car that morning.
*&*(& told the detective he spent about half an hour at Kereru Corner that morning chopping down a tree for firewood from about 11.45am to 12.15pm.
He also told the detective that the only time he spoke to Stewart was about 1.15pm that day after she approached him on foot outside Hunter’s Bach, which was close to the park’s entrance and where he had been temporarily living with his family. His wife and daughter, who were inside the bach watching TV, overhead him talking with Stewart that day, he said. Stewart asked him for directions back to the ford and headed off.
“Now bear with me, it makes more sense that it happened here… Whether it’s an accident or not. Whether you’ve potentially hit her with your quad bike or not,” the detective said to #^%$^
^%$& replied: “I haven’t done anything stupid like that.”
Pewhairangi persisted: “Well why, hang on, it is a possibility because you’ve got a quad bike, there’s a person here, you’ve got a history previously and a warning on your file for the way you drive your quad bike. That it is a possibility, that it could have been an accident.
” whether it’s an accident or whatever’s happened here, we believe something’s happened here between you and Kaye,” he said.
^%$# replied: “Oh well you’re wrong.”
The detective also asked him if he knew what had happened to Stewart.
“No. If I know what had bloody happened to her, she would have been found, wouldn’t she,” he replied.
The 2009 interview transcript stated &^(& gave three formal statements to police, including doing a reconstruction of his movements the day Stewart vanished.It revealed he gave a DNA sample to police, and a forensic examination of his clothing and the bach was performed in 2005, including luminol testing, used by to detect traces of blood.
When Wellington coroner Garry Evans released his findings into her case nearly two years ago, he said Stewart was dead and her body had been either destroyed, irrecoverable or lost.
Foul play was considered by police as the most likely cause, but all “persons of interest” were alibied and eliminated after extensive police inquiries, he said.
To this day, Kayes body has never been found, no one has been charged with her disappearance and death, and a family has no peace.
This story has been a labor of love, and I hope that Kayes family get some answers someday, so they can get some peace.
Links to articles and information are below.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/kaye-stewart-case-not-closed–police-2013053106
New Zealand Mysteries 