Family puzzled by mysterious disappearance
Michael McGrath was an average guy living in an average street and apparently living an average life.
That made his disappearance from his Christchurch home a week ago all the more puzzling.
On Thursday last week police put out a fairly standard release ‘‘seeking sightings’’ of 49-year-old McGrath, who they described as 180cm tall and of ‘‘average build’’.
The photograph they released showed a clean shaven, short haired man with a half smile.
The release said McGrath was last seen on May 21 at his address at 53 Checketts Ave in Halswell.
‘‘Police have concerns for his welfare,’’ the statement said.
Before the weekend, police went doorto-door in the street trying to get more information.
By Saturday the concerns had escalated and residents in Checketts Ave saw an army-style tent go up in McGrath’s driveway and investigators in white suits going from the house to the tent.
Police tape marked off the property and red cones were put on the grass berm.
‘‘It just seems odd. How can a person be there one minute and then gone with no trace; their car’s there, everything’s there,’’ one neighbour said.
Checketts Ave is an ordinary Christchurch street but not one without a sinister history. In 2009 resident Helen Milner fatally poisoned her husband with the drug phenergan while they were living there. She was convicted of murder in 2013. The street’s houses aren’t plush or ostentatious but every property is neat and well maintained.
Each house has a garage and a garden
and the sections are large. McGrath’s property is no exception.
With the tent and the white suits, residents thought the worst but police say they are still treating McGrath, who walked with a limp, as missing.
McGrath kept to himself, fading into the ordinariness of Checketts Ave where he lived alone in the property he bought in 1992. He didn’t appear to have a partner or children. He said hello to neighbours but didn’t engage in much conversation.
If he had a presence on social media, it’s hard to find. He doesn’t appear to have a Facebook page and wasn’t even on the electoral roll.
But he wasn’t isolated. He had friends and family. He kept in contact with his brother, Simon, and his mother, Adrienne, who also live in Halswell.
As a carpenter/builder, he did mainly cash jobs for friends of friends. If he was making good money, he didn’t appear to be a big spender.
He drove a blue 1994 Subaru Legacy station wagon usually packed with his tools and parked outside his garage. It was still there when detectives started their inquiries.
A Facebook post from his brother said McGrath was unlikely to go walking.
‘‘[He] has never done so before and he has been in good spirits,’’ the post said.
Police are saying little about their inquiry, which they describe as a missing person case.
No information was released yesterday.
Neighbours said McGrath was ‘‘a private guy’’.
One remembers him coming over to their house to check the foundations after the Canterbury earthquakes in 2011.
A local business owner said his disappearance was ‘‘just a mystery’’.
Another said: ‘‘It’s so weird. You don’t put a tent up if someone goes missing do you?’’
Detective Inspector Darryl Sweeney, the officer in charge of the investigation, said it was uncharacteristic for McGrath to go off without telling anyone.
‘‘There’s nothing obvious at [McGrath’s home] but it will take some time to assess what’s gone on there and what he’s been doing.’’
Sweeney appealed for anyone in the South Island or further afield, who thought they’d seen McGrath, to contact the police.
‘‘He [McGrath] doesn’t really fit the pattern as a missing person, so we’ve got some concerns.
‘‘He lives on cash so he may have decided to travel somewhere, so we’d like to hear from him if he’s out and about.’’
It is understood McGrath’s bank cards have not been used since he went missing.
Anyone with information is asked to phone Christchurch police on 03 363 7400 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.