New Zealand Police search teams continued looking for 47-year-old Brazilian national Erika Rodrigues Coelho near Queenstown, with several searches reported in the area on 3 October 2026. The latest police search result said the search would continue the following day; it did not provide further operational detail.
What is known about Erika’s disappearance?
Police said Erika, who resides in Queenstown, was last seen or heard from on Friday 18 September 2026. They were notified she was missing on Sunday 20 September. On Monday 21 September, police found her rental vehicle—a white Toyota RAV4 with a black roof and registration RKM122—at Skippers Saddle near Coronet Peak. Police established that it had been parked there sometime on Friday afternoon or evening. New Zealand Police’s 25 September update gives those details.
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Where have teams searched?
Police described searches across the Shotover and Devil’s Creek catchments, other nearby catchments, points of interest, and routes Erika could have taken from where the vehicle was left. The operation has involved Land Search and Rescue volunteers, Coastguard Queenstown, drones, and a helicopter. As of the 25 September update, police said volunteers had spent hundreds of hours searching; no exact cumulative total was given.
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Coastguard Queenstown also used an underwater drone to search a mountain tarn near the vehicle location. Coastguard operator Stephen Jarvis worked from the old jetty to examine an area it said could not be checked from shore or air. Coastguard Queenstown described the operation.
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Latest police update
A police release dated 1 October said the search continued in the Mount Dewar area. Eighteen Search and Rescue volunteers and police staff spent that day looking for specific clues. The release said, “The search will continue tomorrow with further taskings at hand.” Read the 1 October police update.
The latest police search result located, published on 3 October, said several searches took place that day in the area where Erika went missing and that searching would continue the following day. The result did not establish further details about those searches.
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Police asked anyone who saw Erika after 18 September, or who saw the white Toyota RAV4 on 18 September or in the days before, to contact them. Give police reference 260921/8173. Check the live police appeal for current contact instructions before sending information.
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- Call 105 or submit information online through New Zealand Police’s 105 service.
- If you are witnessing a sighting as it happens, call 111 immediately.
- For anonymous information, contact Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
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