Missing brother calls home

Danny Tohill was last seen in Te Puke 10 years ago.

A man missing for more than 10 years has now got back in touch with his family.

John Daniel Tohill, known to most as Danny, was last seen in Te Puke 10 years ago before he appeared to have vanished.

Danny's family reached out this week in a desperate final attempt to track down their brother, nephew and son or to find what may have happened to him.

The police officer in charge of the case believed his disappearance was destined for a coroner's hearing where he believed the result would be "death by unknown means".

Danny's younger brother, Tobias Tohill, shared his story with the Bay of Plenty Times, but after yesterday's story went to print, Danny made a phone call to his brother.

"He just said, 'yeah, it's Dan'," Tobias said.

"He called me last night, out of the blue. He looked me up and got in touch. He said he was well and happy and very busy with work. He didn't offer an explanation though."

The last trace of Danny had been his contact with a cousin in 2005, when he was 37, after he left Nelson to travel north and there was a subsequent unconfirmed report that he was managing a holiday inn in Te Puke in 2006.

The family had made a last ditch attempt to track him down in light of their father's ailing health.

Tobias said they did not have high expectations.

"He's left it pretty late. I think a lot of people had written him off," he said.

"My brother Ben and sister and I are looking forward to see him. We thought there was a good chance he had passed away."

Tobias said he wanted to respect his brother's privacy but Danny was "certainly" surprised at the public appeal for his whereabouts.

"I don't think he quite realised how many people had been looking for him for how long," Tobias said.

"It's amazing the police investigation didn't dig up anything."

Tobias said he expected to catch up with Danny soon but for now he was glad the search was over.

"I'm actually tired after spending the last two weeks running around trying to track down old leads." When Danny went missing, it was understood he told the owners of the holiday inn he planned to either continue north or go to Gisborne to get a horticultural job.

The last time the brothers saw each other was in 2003, before Tobias moved overseas and Danny left Nelson.

"As time went on it became more and more out of character," Tobias told the Bay of Plenty Times.

"Six months and you don't think too much about it. A year goes by and you think 'that's odd' and then pretty quickly you're into two years and people started making inquiries," he said. It was their sister Sarah, who was closest in age to Danny, who began the search in 2007, prompting the start of the missing person case.

False leads about three years ago led the family to believe Danny was living in Wellington and the investigation quietened down until the reports were found to be false in 2013, Tobias said.

The family requested that people respected Danny's privacy.