‘We love him and we just want him home’
The partner of missing Tokoroa man Shane Edwards says she and their four sons “love him and just want him home”.
The 42-year-old father vanished from his Tokoroa home on May 14 and has not been seen or heard from since.
His partner, Alvina Smith, was one of the last people to see him at their home before he disappeared.
Police were following two potential sightings of Edwards in Whakatāne and Rotorua but nothing was yet firm, Detective Sergeant David Whitecliffe-Davies said this week.
Smith and Edwards have been together for 18 years and have four sons aged 4, 6, 7 and 16.
Smith, 43, described him as “the best dad in the world”.
“He’s the love of my life.” Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post, Smith recalled the afternoon Edwards went missing.
“Around 4.30pm at home in Tokoroa, it starts to get a bit chilly. And that gives us the feeling that we better start the fire and cook dinner.
“He wasn’t there at that specific time because he usually would start the fire.”
Smith said she and the kids were in another room while Edwards was in the kitchen.
When she came back out, Smith said the dishes had been moved from the table to the bench but were not washed.
“One minute he’s there, one minute he’s not.”
She did not hear a car outside, nor did she hear the back door close, which would usually be open.
After two hours had passed, Smith said she got “a little bit worried” because it was “out of character” for Edwards not to say anything.
“But when we got to three hours, I panicked.”
In the week leading up to his disappearance, Smith said there was “nothing different” about her partner.
Smith said his disappearance would not be gang or drug-related.
Smith said every day since he disappeared was “a hard day” and she would not leave the house.
“I don’t like them [the kids] to see me cry lots because they know I’m just crying for their dad and then they cry and then it’s hard to stop.”
Her message to Edwards was: “We love him and we just want him home. We miss him.”
Edwards was wearing a brown Swanndri jersey with a tinge of green, light blue jeans, black Converse Chuck Taylor shoes and a black beanie.
He has been described as lean and between 1.80m and 1.85m tall, with dark, short, spiky hair, brown eyes, olive to white-coloured skin and no piercings or tattoos.