![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/erika_missing_cctv-png-1-webp.webp\")
CCTV footage of Erika in the clothes she was last seen in. Photo: NZ Police <\/p>\nAn extensive search has so far failed to find a missing Queenstown woman, including the use of a drone in a mountain pond near where her car was found.<\/p>\n
Erika Rodrigues Coelho, 47, a Brazilian national\u00a0living in Queenstown, has not been seen since Friday, September 18.<\/p>\n
Police were made aware of her disappearance on Sunday and a search began with the help of\u00a0Land Search and Rescue volunteers, Coastguard Queenstown, drones and a helicopter.<\/p>\n
Erika\u2019s rental vehicle, a white Toyota RAV4 with a black roof, registration RKM122, was found at Skippers Saddle.<\/p>\n
It is a lookout and trailhead, near the intersection of Coronet Peak Rd and Skippers Rd, about 15 minutes drive from Queenstown.<\/p>\n
Otago Lakes Central Area Prevention Manager, Senior Sergeant John Fookes, said it is\u00a0now known that her\u00a0car was parked there\u00a0sometime during the afternoon or evening of September 18.<\/p>\n
An underwater drone was used to search a\u00a0mountain tarn, or pond,\u00a0near Skippers Saddle.<\/p>\n
\u201cLand Search and Rescue volunteers have spent hundreds of hours searching the Shotover, Devil\u2019s Creek, and other nearby catchments, as well as points of interest and routes that could have been taken by Erika from where the vehicle was left,\u201d Snr Sgt Fookes said on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice would like to acknowledge the efforts of the volunteers who, in some cases, have forgone employment opportunities and other significant commitments. They have also been involved in other search and rescue operations during this period.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, Erika has not been found.\u201d<\/p>\n
CCTV footage of Erika in the clothes she was last seen in. Photo: NZ Police <\/p>\n
Snr Sgt Fookes said the search was\u00a0continuing.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0appealed for\u00a0members of the public to come forward if they had seen\u00a0Erika since September 18, or\u00a0her\u00a0white\u00a0Toyota RAV4 on the Friday or the days leading up to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to stress that even the smallest amount of information can make a huge difference to our investigation and finding Erika.\u201d<\/p>\n
Any sightings of her in the moment should be reported by calling 111 immediately.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, people could\u00a0contact\u00a0105 –\u00a0either over the phone or online, using the\u00a0reference number 260921\/8173.<\/p>\n
Should anyone want to provide information anonymously, they could\u00a0\u00a0do so through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.<\/p>\n
– Allied Media\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An extensive search has so far failed to find a missing Queenstown woman, including the use of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-611694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611694","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=611694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}