{"id":622048,"date":"2026-10-06T07:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T07:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/622048\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T07:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T07:22:10","slug":"friend-of-missing-queenstown-woman-erika-coelho-remaining-optimistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/622048\/","title":{"rendered":"Friend of missing Queenstown woman Erika Coelho remaining optimistic"},"content":{"rendered":"

A close friend of a woman missing near Queenstown<\/a> is not giving up hope that she will be found safe, as search crews continue to comb land around Coronet Peak.<\/a><\/p>\n

By Katie Todd of RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

Erika Rodrigues Coelho, 47, has not been seen or heard from since September 18.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian national’s rental car was found at Skippers Saddle on September 21. Police believe it was parked there some time in the afternoon or evening of September 18.<\/p>\n

Police have appealed for public help to identify a man seen on the summit track<\/a> in the Mount Dewar area at 12.30pm on 18 September as part of their search for Coelho.<\/p>\n

Brett Squire told RNZ Coelho’s friends and family were extremely worried and distressed but “absolutely focused on Erika and her safe return”. <\/p>\n

“In terms of the work that has been done so far by the police and search and rescue teams \u2013 I believe that they are all doing a very thorough job and we want to thank them all for their hard work and dedication to finding Erika,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Erika<\/p>\n

Erika Rodrigues Coelho, 47, has not been seen or heard from since September 18. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

“While a couple of weeks has passed since Erika’s disappearance, she is an incredibly strong woman, we are therefore remaining optimistic that this concludes (hopefully soon) with a good outcome.”<\/p>\n

The large-scale search for Coelho involved helicopters, drones, Coastguard crews, Land Search and Rescue volunteers and a search dog.<\/p>\n

Queenstown Sergeant Terry Wood has previously said the man on the summit track could be a tourist.<\/p>\n

“The man is described as of Asian complexion, in his 30s, average to taller in height. Slim build with short dark hair and clean shaven,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We would like to speak with him regarding our ongoing investigation for missing 47-year-old Erika Rodrigues Coelho near Queenstown.”<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about Coelho’s disappearance was asked to contact police via 105, citing reference number 260921\/8173.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A close friend of a woman missing near Queenstown is not giving up hope that she will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1080,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-622048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622048","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=622048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}