Police are still actively searching for 19-year-old Maia Johnston, who is missing from Tōtara Park, Upper Hutt. This photo shows her walking down Akron Grove. Photo / NZ Police
Police are still actively searching for 19-year-old Maia Johnston, who is missing from Tōtara Park, Upper Hutt. This photo shows her walking down Akron Grove. Photo / NZ Police
Maia Johnston, 19, has been missing since going for a walk last night.
Mother says up to 100 family and community members have joined the search.
Johnston was last seen wearing a green singlet, black jean shorts, Converse shoes, and carrying a black T-shirt with a skull on it.
Police have released a new CCTV image of a teenager missing for more than 24 hours in Upper Hutt and say they have expanded a search zone for the 19-year-old.
In a statement this evening, police saidMaia Johnston was believed to be wearing a black cardigan or light top,short shorts, and black and white Converse shoes.
A grainy image, taken in Akron Grove, shows her walking down a street, holding something in her left hand.
Johnston was last seen leaving a family home in the suburb of Tōtara Park about 8.30pm yesterday.
“Previously, police asked for residents in the Tōtara Park, Upper Hutt area to share any CCTV footage they might have,” police said tonight.
“We are now expanding this request and are asking for anyone in the vicinity of Harcourt Park and Brown Owl, as well as those in Tōtara Park, to review their CCTV for any sightings of Maia.”
Police said the search was continuing this evening.
“Residents of Tōtara Park may see a drone in the air behind the houses on the northern end of Tōtara Park and should not be alarmed, as this is part of the search.
“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.”
Earlier tonight, Johnston’s desperate mother Amy Walsh said she felt like she’d been walking in circles and couldn’t understand how the 19-year-old 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 now been deployed.
“We have been walking since 9pm last night, 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.”
This photo, taken yesterday before Maia Johnston went missing from a Tōtara Park house.
Johnston was last seen at Akron Grove, Tōtara Park about 8pm yesterday, when she left a residential property to take a walk.
While the 19-year-old had been drinking during the day, Walsh did not believe her daughter would have been particularly intoxicated at the time.
Walsh told the Herald she felt like she was walking in circles since news of her daughter’s disappearance, searching under the same tree.
“The community is amazing. There are so many locals out looking for her,” she said.
Walsh estimated between 50-100 people were now searching for Johnston.
She said Johnston was visiting from Hamilton and had joined in their family Christmas celebration yesterday.
Johnston's mother Amy Walsh said, on her Facebook story, that she was “still searching".
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.
A mother desperate to find her missing teenage daughter says she feels like she’s been walking in circles and can’t understand how the 19-year-old has still not been located.
“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.”
Johnston’s family learned of her disappearance last night but only later realised the teen, who is unfamiliar with the area, left without her phone and wallet.
Police and Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy are urging anyone with CCTV footage to send it to police to help in the search for Johnston who went for a walk about 8pm last night to get some space after Christmas drinks and never returned.
Family, members of the Upper Hutt community and police are undertaking a large-scale search.
Guppy said Tōtara Park was a tight-knit community.
“Anyone that thinks they saw anything last night 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.
Missing teen had socialised with friends before disappearing
Johnston and a friend went to nearby California Park 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.
That evening, Johnston said she wanted some space and left for a walk, carrying nothing but a black T-shirt.
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.
A CCTV image released tonight shows 19-year-old Maia Johnston walking down Akron Grove in Upper Hutt holding something in her left hand. Photo / NZ Police
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 this morning asking her to come in and fill out paperwork about the disappearance, she said.
Walsh is gravely concerned for her daughter.
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.
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.
