Disappearance continues to puzzle

Farmland and bush in the Reikorangi area are being scoured by police in the search for a Waikanae man in what has been described by his daughter as ‘‘not the usual disappearance’’.

The mysterious circumstances around Joe Pryor’s disappearance have left his family and friends stumped, with his daughter, Shannon Barclay, saying her dad is ‘‘such a predictable, routines sort of guy’’.

‘‘It’s absolutely out of character,’’ she said.

As of last night, Pryor had not yet been located. In the days before his disappearance, the 63-year-old sheet metal engineer kept to his usual routine of arriving at work within the same threeminute window, between 7.27am and 7.30am, CCTV footage shows.

He would fill out his timesheet with the date and time he would arrive, and turn on the machines at his Omahi St workshop, Metco Engineering, on the Kā piti Coast.

Last Friday morning was no different, with Pryor arriving around the same time. Except this time he filled in the date on his timesheet, but no time.

His machines weren’t turned on, Barclay said, but it’s not clear whether he had turned them off before leaving that day.

At 7.45am, Pryor’s phone was turned off, police told Barclay. It’s not clear whether his phone, an android with no tracking software, had gone flat, or was switched off. His cellphone provider, 2Degrees, told Pryor’s family the last text message he sent was on Thursday, which Barclay received.

CCTV footage shows Pryor left the workshop at 8.05am, leaving a note on a whiteboard saying he’d be back by 10.30am. His wallet and car were left behind, but he took his keys with him.

‘‘He’s never late. He would never let anyone down, so for him to leave like this is so super weird,’’ Barclay said.

He was wearing blue overalls and had changed from his steel cap boots to walking shoes. CCTV footage shows him leaving the workshop carrying a backpack and a white object, potentially papers or a newspaper, his family believed.

Barclay and others searching for Pryor have determined he walked to the end of Omahi St and crossed the car park at Countdown Waikanae, walking through the shops on Mahara Pl.

CCTV footage from Mahara Pl showed Pryor no longer holding the white object and carrying his backpack in front of him.

Yesterday, a police spokesman said police have had confirmed sightings of Pryor between 8.10am and 8.45am on Friday on Elizabeth St and Reikorangi Rd – more than 1km from the shopping area.

Elizabeth St is a built-up suburban area that turns into farmland and bush on Reikorangi Rd.

Amid the several post-it notes and pieces of paper in Pryor’s workshop is a post-it note still stuck on the pad which read: ‘‘Reikorangi meaning gateway to heaven’’.

Barclay said she wasn’t sure what it meant.

A Facebook page to co-ordinate the search has amassed 6000 followers. More than 100 people have volunteered to join the search and hand out fliers. Pryor’s family has set up a ‘‘search headquarters’’ at Pryor’s workshop.

A post on the page asked commenters to refrain from speculating about Pryor’s situation.

‘‘He is a healthy man with no known mental or physical health conditions – he is a dedicated worker, and loving father and husband. He worked hard as a sheet metal worker and is very much a homebody. He was not in any financial strife, and any deviation from his ‘usual’ is very much out of character,’’ the post said.

A Givealittle page to help with the search has already raised $5000. Barclay said the money may go towards paying for a billboard advertisement.

There are no suspicious circumstances into Pryor’s disappearance at this stage, police said on Monday.