By Neil Reid of 
Joseph Ahuriri, 40, went missing during Cyclone Gabrielle, after leaving home in Gisborne for Napier on 13 February with plans to return home in the early hours of 14 February. Photo: Supplied via NZ Police
As heavy rain battered Hawke's Bay in the darkness of the morning of 14 February, a white Toyota Hilux pulled into a near-deserted truck stop on the outskirts of Napier.
CCTV footage showed the vehicle's lone occupant, Gisborne man Joseph Ahuriri, getting out of his vehicle as the deadly Cyclone Gabrielle was lashing the region; then walking around it, in the process checking out the front and the back of the ute.
The clip captured by a colour camera situated at the Waitomo Fuel Stop at Bay View showed Ahuriri looking backwards toward Napier before it cut out. At one point a truck drove out from the back of the unattended fuel stop out onto the main road.
It was the last known sighting of the father of eight, who had links to the Gisborne-based chapter of Black Power NZ.
Ahuriri was last seen in CCTV footage from a Bay View truck stop north of Napier, early on 14 February, and is believed to have travelled north about the time Cyclone Gabrielle caused severe flooding in the area. Photo: Supplied/ Police
Ahuriri had been attempting to head back to Gisborne. But his family fear his ute might have been washed away by raging floodwaters that slammed through Hawke's Bay that morning.
Another scenario some fear is that his ute - registration DZH116 - was swept off SH2 somewhere between Napier and Wairoa, or that the vehicle was buried in one of many slips on the still unpassable route.
But Eastern District Commander Superintendent Jeanette Park said in late February police believed Ahuriri's disappearance was unlikely to be cyclone-related, "although this cannot be fully ruled out".
Ahuriri's older brother Mike Ahuriri reacted angrily to the comment, saying: "The statement... it may not be Cyclone Gabrielle-related is bulls***".
The white Toyota Hilux Joseph Ahuriri was driving went he went missing, with number plate DZH116. Photo: Supplied / NZ police
Other theories that had been bandied around Hawke's Bay included that something untoward had happened to Ahuriri; the basis of some of those was due to his gang links.
Almost two months on, police and his family are at a loss as to what happened to Ahuriri.
"Police searching for missing man Joseph Ahuriri have so far not located anything of relevance to their investigation," a police spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald this week.
"The investigation and search are ongoing."
The statement was in response to a series of questions put to police by the Herald over the mysterious disappearance.
Those questions included whether it was being treated as a criminal case, whether police were aware of Ahuriri's links to Black Power NZ and whether they had interviewed gang members and Black Power NZ representatives.
Cyclone Gabrielle caused widespread devastation to roads and properties across Hawke's Bay, Tairāwhiti, Coromandel Peninsula and parts of Auckland Photo: RNZ / Supplied
The Herald also asked if more official searches were planned for Ahuriri.
To date those searches had included Whakatu, Clive, Esk Valley, along the Napier-Taupo road, SH5 and SH2; in addition to many of the rural roads off SH5 and SH2.
Late last month police divers searched the coastline near Esk River for the missing 40-year-old.
Personnel from the Royal New Zealand Navy's dive and hydrographic unit, HMNZS Matataua, also conducted underwater searches of the coastline.
"Police would like to thank personnel from the Royal New Zealand Navy, LandSAR and Coastguard who have been involved in the searches so far, for sharing their time, knowledge and resources," the police statement said.
With no apparent concrete leads, police had again appealed to the public for any information including CCTV or dashcam footage that might feature Ahuriri's white ute.
The aftermath of flash flooding through Esk Valley after Cyclone Gabrielle ripped through the area in the early hours of 14 February. Photo: RNZ / Phil Pennington
Vehicles were buried in silt in Esk Valley during the flooding Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
One thing that they had ruled out was "false speculation" that a second person could be seen in the CCTV footage of Ahuriri at the 24-hour fuel stop.
Some family members had raised questions after watching the short clip about whether there might have been a mystery person travelling with Ahuriri.
That theory was based on shadows and an open ute door that could be seen in the video.
But Inspector Martin James of Hawke's Bay police said that after the footage had been "extensively reviewed", officers were satisfied it featured no one but Ahuriri.
Police are adamant that the footage of Joseph Ahuriri at the truck stop outside of Napier only features him. Photo: Supplied/ Police
"The claims of a second person appear to relate to what is in fact an open door on Joseph's vehicle," James said on 16 March.
"The team investigating Joseph's disappearance are working extremely hard to confirm his movements and provide answers for his whānau.
"Speculation such as this often comes from a place of people wanting to help, however the spread of misinformation such as this can be a significant hindrance to a police investigation."
A slip undermined SH5 between Te Pohue and Glengarry, north of Napier, during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied: Waka Kotahi
Police revealed the previous day that the search area for Ahuriri had been widely extended, including around remote areas north of Bay View.
Initially it focused around Whakatu, Clive, Esk Valley, sections of SH2 and the Napier-Taupo road.
Extending the search into remote areas north of Bay View had come after the discovery of the CCTV footage, which showed him driving off north toward Bay View village.
Family members, including one of Ahuriri's brothers and an uncle, had also been conducting their own search for the 40-year-old.
Footage shared on social media from the family searches showed them travelling down various rural roads which were covered in mud, silt and slips in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Tracking Ahuriri's movements on the morning of his disappearance had been "complicated" for police by the fact most CCTV cameras in Hawke's Bay were down due to power cuts related to the cyclone.
An aerial view shows flooding in Esk Valley, an area Joseph Ahuriri could have been driving through in his bid to get back to Gisborne. Photo: RNZ/ Sally Murphy
Ahuriri left his Gisborne home on Monday, 13 February, around 4pm heading for Napier; around a three-hour drive. He said he expected to be back around 2am Tuesday; meaning he would be leaving Napier by 11pm.
As he drove south, Cyclone Gabrielle was bearing down on his route.
About the time he would have originally planned to leave after the short night-time stopover in Gisborne, severe flooding was beginning beyond Esk Valley.
Given the weather conditions, Ahuriri booked a room at Scenic Hotel Te Pania, on Marine Parade.
He checked out of the hotel at 4.28am.
The first CCTV sighting of Ahuriri on the morning of 14 February was of him heading south in Havelock North at 5.15am.
His cellphone later pinged off a tower at Whakatu - north of Havelock North heading back towards Napier - at 5.30am.
Clarissa Poi has previously spoken of her heartbreak over partner Joseph Ahuriri's disappearance. Photo: Supplied via NZ Herald
In the days after Cyclone Gabrielle's deadly destruction on Hawke's Bay, Ahuriri was among the more than 4500 people listed as not being able to be contacted by friends, neighbours or family.
By 28 February, Park said that number had now been reduced to just five people.
Ahuriri had been categorised as a missing person.
"While Joseph has had no contact with family or police since the cyclone, inquiries to date suggest it is unlikely that his disappearance is cyclone-related, although this cannot be fully ruled out," Park said.
"We urge Joseph, or anyone who has seen him since 13/14 February, to please get in touch with police so we can let his family know he is safe."
As police appeal for any more information, and family and friends carry out their own searches, his loved ones face an agonising wait.
Daughter Jah Cameron had made repeated appeals on social media - including on the Missing: Joseph Ahuriri page created on Facebook on 12 March - for any information about her dad's location.
Talking to the Herald four days after the page was launched, she said she believed her dad was still alive.
"We just want our dad home," she said.
"We know our dad is still alive, we don't feel that he is gone. He is still here with us, he is just somewhere else and needs to be found.
"I feel numb, it's like a real empty feeling for all my siblings as well.
"All we do every day when we are outside is call out to him: 'Dad...Dad' and we get no reply. All we hear is the echo."
Damage to SH5 from Cyclone Gabrielle Photo: RNZ / Phil Pennington
Their quest for answers had even seen them speak to a psychic.
"We have done everything in our power to get them so now we turn to the spirit realm. We will wait for answers from them," she said.
The family would do all they could to find any answers.
"We are willing to spend every last dollar to find our father, just like he would have. He would have gone to any length if it was any of us missing," Cameron said.
"We just want our dad home."
Ahuriri's partner, Clarissa Poi, spoke of her heartbreak a week after he went missing.
"It's been seven days since I last spoke with him and my heart breaks every minute that passes," Poi told the Herald.
"I have to return home to our kids who are just as worried and I can't bear to look at them and say 'I didn't find Daddy'."
Anyone with information that could assist the investigation - including CCTV or dashcam footage - was asked to contact police via 105 and quote file number 230225/2804.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
