Mum grieves for 'gentle John'

John Balchin, 18, from Waihi went missing on Tuesday.

A humble man who loved others

The grieving mother of a Waihi teenager found dead in a stream has paid tribute to her "gentle John".

John Balchin, 18, had been travelling with his parents from Thames to their Waihi home when he jumped out of the vehicle in the small Waikato settlement of Puriri, near Thames, and ran away across farm land.

His body was found at 12.30pm yesterday on mudflats of the Waihou River, less than 100m from where he was last seen.

Mother Christine Balchin said the family was devastated but taking comfort in their strong faith. Her husband, David Balchin, is the minister at Waihi's St James Presbyterian church.

"We have real peace and rest knowing he's with the Lord. That's the most important thing in all of this," she said.

"John's the one that's better off by far. We have the loss of not sharing our lives with him any more but we look forward to being reunited in heaven.

"I'm biting at the bit to give him a hug in heaven."

Mrs Balchin said her son was a humble, gentle young man who loved other people and tried to help others.

"I think he considered other people before himself. He was just a real people person.

"He probably didn't think so highly of himself."

Mrs Balchin said her son was a "still waters run deep" type of person.

"He had a real deep empathy and really connected with other people."

John was the second eldest of nine children and had a close bond with his younger siblings. They saw him as "gentle John".

"He's a dearly loved brother," Mrs Balchin said.

"The children are understandably pretty upset. Me, I'm just a bit numb. I can't believe it's reality, even though I know it is," she said.

"They ... loved his company. He would play with them. I think he loved to entertain his friends at school as well," she said.

Mrs Balchin said John had attended Waihi College but had been looking for work after doing small local jobs.

Thames police Senior Sergeant Graham Shields said Search and Rescue efforts were escalated yesterday morning when John still had not been found. Thames' Harbourmaster and search and rescue volunteers came across the body in mudflats within half and hour, Mr Shields said.

"We could have searched for a long time if the tide had been in.

"It is certainly not the result we were looking for."

Police would like to hear from anyone who saw a young man fitting John's description between 2pm Tuesday afternoon and lunch time yesterday.