Bones found in missing woman hunt not human

A Police Ten 7 show in 2013 failed to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Annabell Tumanako. Photo / File

Bones found by a family searching for clues in the 10-year mystery of the disappearance of a Napier mother-of-five were not human, police say.

Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Vining said the bones were handed to police by Andrew Tumanako, who was aged 9 when his mother Annabell Tumanako vanished on June 23, 2007.

They were found near Lake Tutira, between Napier and Wairoa, in a hunt sparked by contact with a psychic, but Vining said a forensic pathologist verified yesterday that the remains were not human.

There thus is still no sign of Tumanako, who was aged 35 when she disappeared.

At an inquest in 2014, held despite the fact that no body had been found, a coroner delivered an "open finding" that, although a cause or location could not be establish, she had died.

Vining said the family have provided further information which, along with the original file, will be reviewed and followed up as appropriate, but police still hope the public may provide the vital clues to help give the family closure and solve the mystery.

"Anyone with information in regards to Annabell Tumanako is asked to contact police, or Crimestoppers anonymously," he said.

The children were not living with their mother when she disappeared and the last confirmed sighting of her was late on a Saturday afternoon at an address where she was living with her partner, the father of her youngest child.

It was, however, five days before police learned from a health and addictions services worker of any concerns for her well-being and another week before they became aware her silver 1990 Toyota Corona had been parked on an old service station forecourt near the Westshore Hotel since a few hours after she was last seen.

To jog people's memories in the hope that someone had seen something relevant, police said the weekend of June 23-24 was the start of the America's Cup series between Emirates Team New Zealand and Alinghi and a World Cup rugby test between the All Blacks and South Africa.

The events were watched by hundreds of thousands via telecasts from Valencia in Spain and Durban in South Africa respectively, including by crowds at the Westshore Hotel.

Police started inquiries by speaking with those with whom she lived, being told Tumanako went out during the night, and was not home when her parner awoke in the morning.

There was no indication of what had happened. Police brought in specialist dog teams and searched the Ahuriri Estuary and lagoon and the wider Westshore area, including beaches and reserves.

They found nothing of interest. Police also never found a plastic petrol container that should have been with the vehicle.

The missing woman's cousin Gayle Te Whaiti then attended a show involving Napier man Craig White, otherwise known as The Spirit Whisperer, who said Tumanako had contacted him and had told how she had died, and other information about where she may be found.

The mystery featured on television's Police Ten 7 show in 2013.