Family's anguish for missing deaf woman

A silver car could be the clue to the mysterious disappearance of a profoundly deaf young Christchurch woman, whose burning car was found metres from Linwood Cemetery on Thursday.

Born deaf like her three brothers and her parents, 20-year-old Emma Agnew uses sign language to communicate.

Police believe she is the victim of foul play and want anyone who saw a silver Japanese car circling Bromley Park, near the cemetery, around the time Emma's burning car was found, to come forward.

Her anguished family spent yesterday at their home, texting Emma.

Emma's bewildered father, Henry Agnew, is appealing to the public to help find his "daddy's girl".

"My daughter, she's gone. She's missing," he said, through a sign language interpreter.

The last text message the family received from Emma on Thursday morning indicated she had found a buyer for her red Mazda Familia. Emma had been trying to sell the car for about a fortnight and had placed a "for sale" sign in its window with her cellphone number on it.

Agnew said Emma had contacted him on Thursday morning, saying someone was coming to look at the car.

"She asked me `What do you think is the price right?' That's the last text I received. Someone visited her about the car and something's happened.

"It doesn't look right. Why would someone take the car and burn it? I just don't know," said Agnew, fighting back tears.

The family has been texting continuously but there has been no response from her.

"This is the first time she's not let people know about work and everything. This is the first time. Emma's a very good girl. She loves her family; her family loves her. She has many friends, many relationships within the community. We just don't know what's happened," Agnew said.

"We're very down. We want her back home, safe home. We want to see her home and safe."

Texting allowed Emma to keep in touch with friends and family, but since Thursday morning, messages to her have gone unanswered.

She left a friend's house at 10.15am on Thursday, heading for work at the Deaf Society of Canterbury where she is an administration assistant, but never arrived.

Detective Inspector Tom Fitzgerald, who is heading the inquiry into Emma's disappearance, said police had pieced together a good picture of her movements until about 10.30am on Thursday.

Her subsequent disappearance was totally out of character and the discovery of her fire-damaged car suggested foul play.

The car was being forensically examined and the area where it was discovered remained taped off yesterday.

Fitzgerald said police were interested in identifying a silver Japanese car seen in and around the Bromley Park area on Thursday evening between 9 and 10pm. Emma was last seen wearing black flared trousers and a navy blue "hoody" top.

Canterbury Deaf Society former general manager Karim Baradi said Emma had always attempted to lead a normal life despite her disability. Her extended family on her mother's side were all profoundly deaf and her first language was sign language. She could lip read but could not vocalise words.

"If she's with a stranger she's never met before she attempts to make herself understood by mouthing the words. She hasn't got any speech," Baradi said.

Asked whether Emma's communication challenges could have placed her in a vulnerable position, Baradi said: "She would not put herself in a position to be misunderstood by anyone, let alone a stranger.

"If she could not understand a person, she would have brought a piece of paper to get that person to write it down... We're just praying for her and her family that she is found."

Emma was active in Christchurch's deaf community and served on the society's entertainment sub-committee, nicknamed the Fab Five. She played netball, competing in the recent New Zealand Deaf Games held in Auckland at Labour Weekend.

- © Fairfax NZ News