{"id":539778,"date":"2026-07-23T04:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/539778\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T04:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:38:14","slug":"police-complete-search-for-missing-man-sought-over-mothers-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/539778\/","title":{"rendered":"Police complete search for missing man sought over mother&#8217;s death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">Police have completed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/07\/20\/final-search-planned-for-missing-man-sought-over-mothers-death\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">further search<\/a> for missing man Jeremy Robertson south of Rotorua \u2014 the only person of interest in the death of his mother, Karen Gilbert-Palmer, in Pahiatua last October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">About 20 police search and rescue staff alongside volunteers conducted a search in the surrounding areas of the carpark at the Blue and Green Lakes lookout, where the vehicle Robertson was using was located.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Since the vehicle Robertson was using arrived at the carpark, there had been no activity on his bank accounts or mobile phone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Given the facts, police detective Sergeant Richard How said it believes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/05\/14\/man-sought-over-mothers-death-most-likely-dead-police-say\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Robertson died<\/a> shortly after arriving at the Green and Blue lakes areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Robertson or any suspected belongings were not located during the search, How added.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a-police-artists-impressions-of-a-red-mitsubishi-asx-being-s-J57NNCV2OVDGFGJ4ZR47YENMJY.jpg\" alt=\"A police artist's impressions of a red Mitsubishi ASX being sought in the case, with the registration QGU91.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">A police artist&#8217;s impressions of a red Mitsubishi ASX being sought in the case, with the registration QGU91. (Source: Police)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;Police remain committed to locating Jeremy if at all possible, to provide the closure that Karen\u2019s loved ones deserve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;Further smaller scale searches are going to be undertaken in the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Police urged the public to contact it with any information which could assist the investigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;We\u2019d like to hear from anyone who has previously located any medication packets, or any red or blue clothing in the area surrounding the Lakes, and nearby tracks,&#8221; How said.<\/p>\n<p>How the case unfolded<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Gilbert-Palmer was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2025\/10\/17\/police-seek-man-as-they-investigate-womans-death-in-pahiatua\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">found dead at her Pahiatua home on October 15<\/a> by a friend who had been unable to contact her. A homicide investigation was launched after police was called to the property, with her red Mitsubishi ASX missing from the scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The vehicle was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2025\/10\/16\/deceased-womans-car-found-in-rotorua-amid-pahiatua-homicide-probe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">found unoccupied the following day<\/a> at the Blue and Green Lakes lookout on Tarawera Rd, more than 350km from Pahiatua. Police believe Robertson arrived in the area in the car at around 2am, with the vehicle spotted in the carpark from about 8am.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Police <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2025\/10\/20\/police-name-man-in-his-50s-sought-after-death-of-pahiatua-woman\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">publicly named Robertson days later<\/a>, describing him as &#8220;in his 50s and of solid build,&#8221; and urged the public not to approach him but to call 111 immediately with any sightings. He has not been located since, despite extensive search efforts in the months that followed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-greyDarkFaded\">The morning&#8217;s headlines in 90 seconds, including Stuart Nash quits amid sexism storm, and Prince George turns 13. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have completed a further search for missing man Jeremy Robertson south of Rotorua \u2014 the only person&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,1756,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-539778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}