Mother's help valued by investigators

Police investigating the disappearance of 32 year-old Remuera woman Carmen Thomas say they're getting valuable assistance from her mother who flew into Auckland from South Africa late on Friday night.

Teresa Scott spent most of Saturday recovering from her journey and meeting with investigation head, Detective Inspector Mark Benefield who gave her an overview of the Police inquiry into her daughter's disappearance.

"It's a very trying time for Teresa and we appreciate her coming to New Zealand to try and fill some gaps in our profile of Carmen," Mr Benefield said.

"She is still in the process of providing us with a statement and she spent a good part of yesterday assisting us and the Police Ten-7 television programme filming for this week's show."

Teresa is yet to meet with her five year-old grandson and his father and hopes to do so sometime this week. Consequently, she has advised that she is reluctant to meet with or be interviewed by media over the next few days or at least until she has met her grandson.

More recent photographs of Carmen have come to light [see attached] which may help to jog people's memories of Carmen whose last confirmed sighting was on June 27.

Hundreds of hours of CCTV footage from various shopping and entertainment precincts in Auckland and Hamilton are being trawled through by investigating officers, some of which may be helpful but all of which has to be confirmed as having some value to the investigation.

Police are still appealing for any sightings of Carmen or her car anytime after June 27 and invite people with information to contact Police on 0800 KEPPEL - 0800 537 753, via the e-mail address whereiscarmen@police.govt.nz or anonymously on 0800 555 111.