Missing man: ‘It’s all very mysterious’

On April 15, Dale Watene celebrated his 40th birthday. There wasn’t much fanfare – it was the middle of Covid-19 lockdown and he lived alone.

One of the highlights was likely a trip to the supermarket in Otautau, about 20 kilometres from his home in rural Southland, where he spent roughly $200 on groceries. The next day, after a seemingly normal conversation with his mother and some drinks with a woman he’d been seeing, Watene, a father to a 5-year-old boy, vanished.

His truck, a blue 1995 Isuzu SUV, registration CGE 638, was found two days later at Holt Park in Otautau. The battery had been removed and diesel was pooling on the ground beneath.

A fortnight later, Watene’s family and friends fear the worst and the police are ramping up their investigation. The last call made using his cellphone was about 9.30pm on April 16, but the recipient didn’t answer, and his bank card hasn’t been used since the supermarket visit. Some who knew Watene think he may have been killed, a scenario detectives haven’t ruled out.

But no-one can find any trace of the groceries he bought, suggesting he might be hiding somewhere.

‘‘It’s all very mysterious,’’ Watene’s uncle, Patrick Steiner, told Stuff on Wednesday. ‘‘Nothing seems to be adding up. It’s all very unsettling. [His mother] is trying to hang on to the idea he’s gone bush for some reason.’’

Watene – described by police as being 183cm tall and thin – grew up in Huntly, in the Waikato, where most of his family, including Steiner, live.

He moved to Otautau after a stint in Perth about 15 years ago and secured a job on a dairy farm where his younger brother worked.

At the time of his disappearance, Watene was working for the same farmer, John Clarke, driving trucks and operating heavy machinery.

He was known to dabble in drugs and at times associated with people on the fringes of the local underworld.

On the day he disappeared, Watene had been drinking at a home in Otautau where a woman he’d been seeing lived. He apparently left there in the early evening to buy alcohol, but never returned.