Name: Dale Tama Watene
Age: 40
Height: 183cm
Build: slim
Date of disappearance: 17/04/2019
Circumstances:
Winton Police are looking for Dale Tama Watene, who has been reported missing from the Otautau area.
The 40 year old was last seen on April 17, and Police are keen to hear from anyone who may have been in contact with him, or knows where he might be.
If you can help, please let Police know on 105.
Mr Watene had been using a blue 1995 Isuzu SUV style vehicle (pictured below) registration CGE638.
This vehicle was located by Police on April 18 at Holt Park in Otautau.
Police are seeking information that would assist in locating Mr Watene or sightings of his vehicle around the area between 15 April and 18 April 2020.
The 40-year-old is described as being 183cm in height and of thin build.
If you have any information that can assist Police please get in contact with Detective Regan Fahey on 0211915198.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media
Police ramp up investigation into Dale Watene’s mysterious disappearance
Dale Watene went missing the day after his 40th birthday in the middle of Covid-19 lockdown. The police are ramping up their investigation amid fears he’s been killed. Blair Ensor reports.
On April 15, Dale Watene celebrated his 40th birthday.
There wasn’t much fanfare – it was the middle of Covid-19 lockdown and he lived alone.
One of the highlights was likely a trip to the supermarket in Otautau, about 20 kilometres from his home in rural Southland, where he spent roughly $200 on groceries.
The next day, after a seemingly normal conversation with his mother and some drinks with a woman he’d been seeing, Watene, a father to a 5-year-old boy, vanished.
His truck, a blue 1995 Isuzu SUV, registration CGE 638, was found two days later at Holt Park in Otautau. The battery had been removed and diesel was pooling on the ground beneath.
A fortnight later, Watene’s family and friends fear the worst and the police are ramping up their investigation into his disappearance.
The last call made using his cell phone was about 9.30pm on April 16, but the recipient didn’t answer, and his bank card hasn’t been used since the supermarket visit.
Some who knew Watene think he may have been killed, a scenario detectives haven’t ruled out.
But no-one can find any trace of the groceries he bought, suggesting he might be hiding somewhere.
“It’s all very mysterious,” Watene’s uncle, Patrick Steiner, told Stuff on Wednesday.
“Nothing seems to be adding up. It’s all very unsettling.
“[His mother] is trying to hang on to the idea he’s gone bush for some reason.”
Watene – described by police as being 183cm tall and thin – grew up in Huntly, in the Waikato, where most of his family, including Steiner, live.
He moved to Otautau after a stint in Perth about 15 years ago and secured a job on a dairy farm where his younger brother worked.
At the time of his disappearance, Watene was working for the same farmer, John Clarke, driving trucks and operating heavy machinery.
He was known to dabble in drugs and at times associated with people on the fringes of the local underworld.
On the day he disappeared, Watene had been drinking at a home in Otautau where a girl he’d been seeing lived.
He apparently left there in the early evening to go to buy alcohol, but never returned.
A friend, who Stuff has agreed not to name, believes Watene’s truck broke down at Holt Park. He’d apparently taken it four wheel driving the previous day and after that it hadn’t been running very well.
The friend said he believed that after the breakdown Watene removed the battery from the vehicle and then somehow made the 20km trek to his home near Wairio.
Watene apparently only had one car battery that he switched between two vehicles.
The battery from his truck was found in a car at his home after his disappearance, the friend said.
“With the groceries he bought the day before, maybe he’s just in hiding for an unknown reason.
“I’m hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.”
Others fear Watene had found himself in debt to the wrong people and might have been killed.
Watene’s family in Huntly are struggling to come to grips with his disappearance at a time when Covid-19 restrictions prevent them travelling to help look for him.
His mother, who asked not to be named, is continuing to work to try to keep her mind from racing.
“I have no idea [what’s happened to him]. I have so many things going round and round in my head.”
When she last spoke to her son, nothing seemed to be out of place.
“He was happy as far as I knew.”
In the days that followed, she sent text messages to him but got no response.
It wasn’t until Watene’s ex partner, the mother of his child, contacted her on Monday that she realised something was wrong.
Watene’s mother said her son was a generous, kind hearted man who loved children.
She was clinging to hope he’d be found alive and urged anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact police.
Police have appealed for sightings of Watene’s truck between April 15 and April18.
Detective Senior Sergeant Stu Harvey said a team of detectives was investigating Watene’s disappearance.
“We’re keeping a very open mind about what’s happened.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Chris Lucy on 105 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Online Crimestoppers: Crimestoppers-nz.org
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