Police have been working to find him since early August.
A police spokesperson said police had conducted a number of enquiries in Christchurch, though they had not yet located Willis.
“Stewart is a very quiet man and lives a very solitary life, but police and his family have concerns for his welfare and want to know he is safe,” the spokesperson said.
“Police do not know where Stewart is, but we believe he could still be in the area near Te Anau.”
Willis lives in a block of four flats, in a small unit halfway down a driveway that leads to a bustling city road.
Speaking to the Herald in August, Willis’ neighbour Thuya Thuya said he had a chatty nature and described several positive engagements with him.
“We’d talk very often, he’d sit outside on his front porch and drink his morning coffee,” Thuya said.
“If something bad happened in the news, we’d talk about it. If you were needing help, he’d help you - he was a friendly man, a happy man.”
Thuya understood Willis had lived at the property for nearly 10 years.
He didn’t have any visitors and generally kept to himself outside of their chats.
About a month before his disappearance, Thuya said he’d noticed Willis acting differently from how he normally engaged - he didn’t want to talk and seemed “distracted”.
Another neighbour, Harmeet Singh, whose unit connects to Willis’, said the man lived alone.
“He’s quite quiet, whenever he sees anybody he would say ‘hello’,” he said.
Willis is understood to have worked at a Christchurch-based concrete company as a truck driver. His company declined to comment on the search.
“I’m left thinking ‘where has he gone?’. I don’t understand - but I’ve lived here for six years already but we always thought he was okay,” said Thuya.
If you have seen Stewart or have any information which may assist Police in locating him please contact Police on 105 or online via https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105 using ‘update report’ please reference file number: 230807/7610.
