Man who warned Emma's car would blow 'not a suspect'

Christchurch police are looking for a man who warned a group that missing woman Emma Agnew's car was "going to blow'', but say the man is not a suspect.

The deaf woman has been missing since Thursday after noon. Later that day her car, which she had been trying to sell, was found torched in Bromley Park, in the city's east.

A silver car seen at the park had been ruled out of the police investigation after the occupants came forward yesterday.

As a result of that interview, police now wanted to speak to a man who approached the occupants of the silver car and warned them to leave the area as Agnew's car was "going to blow''.

The man was described as Caucasian, about 35 to 40 years old, with light-brown hair, short on top but shaved at the sides.

He was about 1.85m tall and of a solid build.

He was wearing a tidy dark jacket and jeans, and walking a white, short-haired, pitbull-cross dog.

Police were also appealing for sightings of Agnew in Christchurch's northern suburbs on Thursday afternoon.

Detective Inspector Tom Fitzgerald said police believed Agnew had been in either St Albans, Papanui, Belfast or Redwood after going missing on Thursday morning.

Fitzgerald said police had pieced together Agnew's movements until about 10.15am, when "things changed''.

She had been "uncontactable'' since 10.35am on Thursday, he said.

Agnew was thought to have been in Christchurch's northern suburbs and police appealed for people who had seen her or her car to come forward.

"She and her phone were out that way,'' he said, but refused to elaborate.

Police had executed search warrants to obtain mobile phone records and had spoken to all the people who had sent her text messages about the sale of her car, he said.

 Nobody had been ruled out of the inquiry.

Agnew's aunt, Evelyn Pateman, is co-ordinating a poster appeal for information on her niece.

The posters feature a photograph of Agnew queuing to visit the Eiffel Tower during a trip to Paris in July.

Agnew was on her way to the World Federation of the Deaf conference in Madrid, Spain.

"We don't want to think the worst. We have to be positive and hopeful,'' Pateman said.

"She's one in a million and the family will go to the bitter end to get her home safely.''

Another poster outside the Christchurch Deaf Association advertises a bank account set up by the deaf community to fund a search for their friend.

Forensic examinations of Agnew's car were continuing, but Fitzgerald would not say whether signs of foul play had been found.

The investigation was still a search for a missing person, not a homicide inquiry, he said, although the "grave fears'' police had for her safety were growing.

 

- © Fairfax NZ News