The search for missing woman Sara Niethe restarted on Saturday, with search and rescue experts navigating “dense” terrain in rural Hauraki.
Sara, a mother-of-three, was killed by Mark Pakenham at his Kaihere home in 2003.
Ten years later, Pakenham pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter after police recorded him saying he had fatally injected methamphetamine into Sara. He was soon released on parole but has since refused to reveal where her body is, claiming that he cannot remember.
The search was headed by private investigator and former Waikato CIB senior detective, Bruce Currie, with more than 50 people, including Land Search and Rescue [LandSAR] crews from across the district, banding together. The area of interest was Ohinewai Rd, a steep, narrow, gravel stretch of road off State Highway 27, that is said to be familiar to Pakenham.
“It is very, very dense, so it does mean the searchers will have to work very closely together,” Kip Mandeno told The Profile. “Often in these searches, you think you’re looking for a big vehicle, but it might only be part of the vehicle or a piece of clothing.”
Kip is part of Hamilton LandSAR’s incident management team, and has 40 years of experience in search and rescue. Following Saturday’s search, he said GPS data that recorded everybody’s movements would be reviewed.
“If we find no evidence or information of value, that will define future search areas.”
And even if nothing was found during the search’s early stages, every exploration attempt would be deemed a success, he said.
“Even if we find nothing today, it’s a success, because we’ve cleared areas and were able to reduce the search area, so it potentially gets smaller and smaller, and maybe we will find a success at that point in time.”
Conrad Leonard, a forestry worker with 16 years’ experience, was involved in the search. His partner, Danielle, is one of Sara’s three children.
“Our children… it’s their grandma that we’re trying to find, and they’re of the age now where they’re asking what happened, and I don’t know what to say to that,” he said. “The three siblings are very close, they talk all the time, but Danielle is having trouble sleeping because everything’s becoming fresh and raw again.”
In regards to the day’s search, Conrad said finding “anything” was “better than nothing”.
