“Michael’s death is being treated as unexplained and has been referred to the coroner.”
In 2020, his brother Aaron Murdoch said everyone in the family was very concerned.
Police have found evidence Michael Murdoch's phone connected to a cellphone tower two days after he was last seen. Photo / Supplied“Obviously all of the family and relatives are worried about him and want some form of closure, whether he is found alive or otherwise,” he said.
He described Michael as a family man.
“He always liked going to see his dad and he really missed his mum. His mother died in 1997, so he missed her a lot,” he said.
Michael had last been seen on CCTV footage from Waitomo Wills Service Station in Ngāruawāhia at 7.41am on September 26, 2019.
His phone last pinged off cell towers in the Horotiu area at 6.08am on September 28.
The phone also pinged off towers in the Te Puroa Rd area in Ngāruawāhia, between midnight and 5am that Saturday morning.
Michael lived in a house-bus on a section of his landlord Alex Parr’s property, where he would earn his keep doing jobs such as mowing the lawn.
He was reported missing by Parr on Monday, September 30, 2019.
Parr said Murdoch was a gentleman. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
A former associate, who wished not to be named, previously described him as “super faithful, super honest and a really nice, genuine guy”.
