Missing teen Maia Johnston: Search base to be set up in Tōtara ...
While she had been drinking during the day, Walsh did not believe her daughter would have been particularly intoxicated when she left.
Johnston was believed to be wearing a black T-shirt, black jean shorts and black and white Converse shoes. She had a green singlet underneath.
A grainy CCTV image, taken in Akron Grove, Tōtara Park, where she had been staying, shows her walking down the street, holding something in her left hand.
Walsh shared videos and pictures to her Facebook story overnight, showing searchers out scouring bushy areas in the dark for Johnston.
In one of her posts, she said thermal drones had been unable to find any trace of her daughter.
This morning she said a “massive turnout of people from the community” had searched through the night.
“We are going to set up a base at Tōtara Park school in the hall for people wanting to help/search to come to,” she said.
She also shared another photo of Johnston. While the photo itself is old, it shows the design on the T-shirt Johnston was wearing when she was last seen.
“Maia Johnston remains missing and police are still keen to hear from anybody who may have seen her in the Tōtara Park, Upper Hutt, area,” police said in a statement this morning.
“We have received a number of calls [from] members of the public, all of which have been assessed and followed up if required, but unfortunately have not led us to Maia’s whereabouts. Police will continue to make inquiries today.”
Police are also asking anyone in the Harcourt Park and Brown Owl area, as well as those in Tōtara Park, to review their CCTV footage for sightings of Johnston.
“If you have any information or CCTV footage that could help our inquiries, please update us online now or call 105. Please use the reference number 241222/0237.”
Yesterday, Walsh said she felt like she’d been walking in circles and couldn’t understand how the teen had still not been located.
She is urging anyone with information to come forward and told the Herald that specialist search and rescue teams had been deployed.
“We have been walking since 9pm [Saturday], but I just can’t get my head around that no one has seen her.
“It seems impossible that she could be walking around and not bump into people looking for her.”
“The community is amazing. There are so many locals out looking for her,” she said.
Walsh estimated between 50-100 people were searching for Johnston yesterday.
She said Johnston was visiting from Hamilton and had joined in their family Christmas celebration yesterday.
Walsh posted images from the search on Facebook, writing “still searching”.
“Still no sign. Still, just the community searching it seems. 43,000 steps and counting.
“My girl, everyone knows your name at this point ... there are SO many people searching ... how has no one seen you?” she said in another post.
“I must have called your name several thousand times at this point ... please come home.”
Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy said Tōtara Park was a tight-knit community.
“Anyone that thinks they saw anything [on Saturday] at that time, please report it to police,” he said.
“Police are wanting to know if people have CCTV cameras. If anyone has got those, please get in contact urgently because everyone is thinking of her and her family.”
Deputy Mayor Hellen Swales said when a young person went missing, the community’s heart went out to their loved ones.
“We hope that she is found and it is such a terrible thing to happen at a time so close to Christmas when families should be together.”
Johnston and a friend went to nearby California Park on Saturday after a few drinks between 4.30pm and 6.30pm, and had another drink at home after returning, but Walsh believed Johnston would not have been particularly intoxicated as she had not been drinking for the two hours she was at the park.
Johnston’s friend said it was not unusual for her to take time out and go for walks, but Walsh said Johnston had never “gone missing” before.
After half an hour her friend went to check on her, and about 9pm it began raining so Walsh jumped in the car, barefoot and wearing just a T-shirt and shorts, thinking she would need to pick the girls up.
“I found a very wet child looking for her friend and we haven’t stopped searching since.”
Family and friends have posted on local community Facebook groups asking people to look out for Johnston, and members of the community have been out helping with the search overnight.
Walsh said she tried to report the matter to police overnight but they were more concerned with reports of a man in a yellow high-vis jacket acting suspiciously.
She said she was even questioned by a police officer while out searching because she was wearing a yellow rain jacket.
Police contacted Walsh on Sunday morning asking her to come in and fill out paperwork about the disappearance, she said.
She believed it was possible her daughter had suffered an accident and was stuck somewhere, hurt.
She did not believe it was possible Johnston was drunk enough to have fallen asleep somewhere, particularly given the poor weather overnight, and said she would surely have woken up well before now if that was the case.
“Just please come home,” Walsh begged her daughter.
Members of the public have been commenting on the Upper Hutt Facebook pages, saying they have been out looking for Johnston as well.
“I’ll stay out as long as I’m needed to get her home safe,” said one man.
Another person said they and their partner had been out searching with their baby daughter in the car with them.
“My son and his friend came home late last night really concerned, as they had been helping to look for her last night. I hope she is [okay]. I’ll send the boys back out today to look,” one woman wrote.
Other people have been searching along the Hutt River, under bridges, in paddocks, and throughout multiple Upper Hutt locations.
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.
