A Waikato family is hoping to solve the 20-year-old mystery of the disappearance of Sara Niethe.
The mother-of-three was killed by her partner who went to jail for it, but her body was never found.
A former detective and Niethe's son believe they have good reason to open the search again.
Dion Chamberlain lost his mum almost 20 years ago.
Before her death, Niethe had filled the pages of his baby book with locks of hair and photos of him growing up - updates on his life with each new year.
But the pages after 2003 will forever be blank as Niethe has never been found.
Anyone with information please contact Bruce Currie at bruce@mrtracer.co.nz
Almost two decades after her death her family are re-opening the search for her body.
"It's difficult. It's not something that I thought we'd ever have to do or want to do. It's a whole lot of stuff that my family and I had put behind us but it's something that if we can have resolved it'd be a huge relief," Chamberlain told Newshub.
Niethe died on March 30, 2003. On the day of her death, she bought goods in the Waikato town of Ngatea - before heading to her boyfriend's home in Kaihere.
Ten years later, her boyfriend Mark Pakenham pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter after police recorded him saying he'd injected methamphetamine into Niethe.
He claimed he didn't know where Niethe's body was. The judge didn't believe him, nor did Neithe's family.
"He consciously put my family through hell for a decade. Now that I know my mother is never coming back because he has the audacity, the right not to tell us where my mother is. Surely this is a crime in itself," Chamberlain said in court in 2013.
The search for Niethe and her car is being led by former detective sergeant Bruce Currie who is now a private investigator.
"Way back in the day - this is in the late 1990s - I was in charge of the homicide investigations in the region. When the case first came up I'd often drive past Mark Pakenham's house and thought 'whatever happened to Sara?'
"I thought to myself when I've got some time, I'll approach the family on a pro-bono basis and have a look at the case," Currie said.
When COVID hit that's exactly what he did.
"I've spent the last two years interviewing people, travelled thousands of kilometres and got it to the point where I believe there's good reason to do another search for Sara," Currie said.
The private investigator said the 10-kilometre area around Pakenham's house wasn't searched, because for nearly a decade police believed Niethe had driven away from the property.
"This wasn't a homicide enquiry for six years, it was a missing person. Someone who'd jumped into their car and driven off in a huff never to be seen again. If this is not a homicide I'm in the wrong business. Absolutely," Currie said.
He said the search will involve areas of bush and gorges and is urging local farmers with knowledge of the land to assist.
"That Kaihere area has a secret and it's there," Currie said.
Because finding Niethe is just as important as it ever was.
"It'll be an answer. It'll be over," Chamberlain said.
It will finally give her son peace after 20 years.
