Kōrero: Search and rescue

In the past, police conducted some searches without volunteer help. These were known as Class I searches. One example was the hunt for 16-year-old Wendy Mayes, who went missing in Wellington in September 1961. She had answered an advertisement by John Maltby for a photographer’s model, and did not return from an interview with him. Maltby was questioned by police, and later his body was found washed up on the beach at Island Bay. Wendy Mayes was never found, despite a concentrated search by police. Now police-only searches have been replaced by Category I searches, which involve both police and volunteers.