All have given their all, combining professional expertise with personal drive to literally look under every rock for 22-year-old Mr Bates. Det Sgt Shaw, Mr Bates’ family and Mr Dance and Mr Schusser, themselves volunteers, have personally and publicly thanked the LandSAR searchers a number of times. This weekend, teams will do more physical searching in a different area along the Manuherikia River. They are effectively part of the larger operation, they are eyes and ears that we can’t resource," Mr Dance said. Mr Bates’ mother, Trish Bates, father, John Bates, brother, Jonathan Bates, and Jonathan’s fiancee, Sidonee Gibson, said they were grateful to all who were helping bring Mr Bates home.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 09, 2018 16:17 UTC