4 May 2010

Search focuses on missing woman's background

7:58 pm on 4 May 2010

Police searching for a missing Christchurch woman are looking into her background for clues to her disappearance.

Emma Campbell has not been seen since she stopped at a petrol station near the Port Hills at just after 5.30am on Saturday.

The 29-year-old's silver-blue Toyota Corona was found two hours later five metres over a bank on Dyers Pass Road.

Detective Senior Sergeant John Rae told Morning Report on Tuesday that police have put the ground search on hold.

"We've done the areas that we can reasonably expect to have found something," he said, "and there's been nothing found. If there's opportunities to search a bit later on, or as a result of information given, then we'll be doing it again."

Senior Sgt Rae says police are not sure what Ms Campbell was doing in the Port Hills, or whether she was alone, but there is nothing to indicate that she has been the victim of foul play.

The family is pleading for the public's help to find Ms Campbell. She is described as being of slim build, about 1.72 metres tall, with red hair and tortoiseshell-framed glasses.