Shane Edwards seemed to vanish into thin air. A lot about his disappearance from his Tokoroa home last year doesn’t add up. Now his partner and her family say they have been “harassed” by police. Tony Wall investigates a suburban mystery.
South Tokoroa. Peeling paint from aging clapboard homes. Household garbage accumulates in the yards. People get away with low wages or benefits.
But there is a community spirit – neighbors greet and look out for each other; lawns are kept neat.
This was the Shane Edwards patch. He lived on Hawick St, with his partner and three boys, in a three-bedroom private rented house on a 1,500 sq m plot at the end of a right-of-way, hidden from the street.
On most days, his neighbors would see the 42-year-old taking his elementary-age children to school or cycling alongside them. Whenever he left the property it was by bicycle as he did not have a car.
Suddenly one day he was gone.
“I’m telling you, we’ve noticed his presence around,” says a neighbor who declined to be named.
“He was a truly wonderful man. He always said hello. I actually said to my wife “have you seen the neighbor…I haven’t seen him in a while”. It wasn’t long after that that I found out.”
Kristel Yardley/Miscellaneous
The home Edward shared with Smith and their children. A fire pit can be seen in the backyard.
Edwards went missing on May 14, 2022, and the police were notified a few days later.
Searches have begun; leaflets pasted around Tokoroa. The general public first learned of the mystery about a month later when Edwards’ partner of 18 years and mother of his children, Alvina Smith, gave media interviews pleading for information.
“Come home, man. The boys miss you. We all miss you,” she said, sobbing uncontrollably and wiping her nose with a tissue.
More than a year later, the trail went cold. Possible sightings of Edwards around the North Island were investigated and dismissed by police.
Edwards’ bicycle remained on the property. He did not appear on CCTV in Tokoroa or further afield. His wallet and phone are missing – his bank account hasn’t been touched, nor has his phone been used.
As far as the available evidence goes, Edwards never left Hawick St. He has become a ghost.
Kristel Yardley/Miscellaneous
Alvina Smith holds a missing person leaflet during media appeals for information.
All that is known about Edwards’ last movements is what Smith has told police and the media – that he cooked the family’s lunch and washed the dishes while she was with the boys in their room. When she came out, he was gone.
She didn’t hear a car pull up and their dog didn’t bark, she says.
Her sister, Carol, who lived in a garage on the property and bought the pork chops Edwards cooked that day, says it’s a mystery.
“You grab things and there was nothing – honestly nothing, he just walked out … and never came back.”
Edwards, who has an “Alvina” tattoo on his right arm, appeared to be in good spirits, had no history of mental health problems and was not involved with a gang.
Police say his disappearance is completely out of character.
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Shane Edwards, who disappeared from Tokoroa in May 2022, with his partner Alvina Smith.
A things the investigation revealed disturbing information about the couple’s relationship, reports of frequent loud arguments and police visits to the property, as well as comings and goings at all hours of the day and night.
We also found out more about the police operation – in the early days of the investigation, they dug up parts of the backyard and, in Smith’s words, “ransacked” the house, including cutting up mattresses.
Smith and her sister say they felt harassed and made to feel like suspects rather than grieving family members.
“I haven’t been offered any support, I’m still waiting to be referred for counseling,” said Alvina Smith, who has been living in motels for several months after being evicted for not paying rent.
Before leaving the property, Smith burned all of the family’s belongings in the backyard. She says she did this because she was given short notice to move out, didn’t have a car and couldn’t move everything.
“I burned everything – clothes, furniture, toys,” she says. “Me and the boys only took a bag of clothes, that’s pretty much all we got.”
Edwards’ family is concerned that she burned his things, but Smith says she saved them for the boys.
Edwards comes from a successful family. His mother is Timua Brennan, a Christchurch-based opera singer who in 2018 was an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music and Māori.
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Shane Edwards, who disappeared from Tokoroa in May 2022 with his sons.
His brother is Dr Michael Edwards, a psychologist who looked at repeat arson for his PhD at the University of Canterbury.
Michael Edwards, who is based in Western Australia, traveled to Tokoroa last year and made his own enquiries.
“Shane is no longer with us – we’ve accepted that reality,” he says things via email, adding that his brother would not voluntarily miss so many family events and milestones.
He says he learned information during his investigations that was “highly concerning” that needed police follow-up.
Kristel Yardley/Miscellaneous
The driveway leading to Shane Edwards’ rented house.
He believes some countries are withholding information and is asking anyone who can help to come forward.
He suspects foul play, but says it’s possible there was an accident and his body hasn’t been found.
Neighbors of the Hawick St property say they can’t stop thinking about Shane and what happened to him.
One woman, who asked not to be named, said there were often loud arguments and raised voices and the police were visited “multiple times”.
“There were times when [Shane] he would leave and he would… come back when things were settled.’
Cars came and went on their shared driveway at all hours, the neighbor said, and sometimes the property smelled strongly of cannabis.
“He was a wonderful man, he was very kind, he was a hard worker, always cleaning the yard and making sure everything was nice and tidy. It’s so sad.”
The neighbor, who greeted Edwards as he walked by with his sons, says he told police about a very loud argument at the time he went missing.
The man installed security cameras after the disappearance, for the peace of mind of all the neighbors.
Smith doesn’t deny that her relationship with Edwards was volatile, especially in the beginning. He was on trial for assaulting her, she says, and had completed counseling and anti-violence courses.
Did she ever hit him? “I’m sure I did, yes. [He] just don’t get involved with the police.
Kristel Yardley/Miscellaneous
The backyard bonfire where Alvina Smith burned her belongings, including this mattress.
She says not all the arguments the neighbors heard were her and Edwards; other family members were often there and sometimes they fought.
Smith says that in the early stages of the investigation, family members, including her father Richard, were “harassed” by police.
“We don’t have a shiny record … but we were bullied a lot of the time.” Her father told the lead detective never to come back, she says.
She says she underwent a “grueling” interview at the police station. “It was a nightmare. I’ve had enough. It was simple [questions about] everything, everything.”
Carol Smith says it was exhausting for her sister.
“I don’t know how many times she had to repeat herself and there were several times when we told the investigators … ‘You’re just wearing her out now, she doesn’t want to talk to you.’
He says it has been difficult for the whole family.
“We were all under investigation because … we had no idea … why he went missing. I mean, their relationship wasn’t perfect, but whose is?
“It was pretty terrifying just missing Shane, let alone dealing with him [police] at the same time.”
Police declined to comment, saying that providing specific details of their inquiries “could jeopardize the ongoing investigation”.
Alvina Smith says that after moving out of the property, she returned to get something and found police there.
Christel Yardley/Waikato Times
Shane Edwards has been missing since 2022. His partner Alvina Smith is devastated.
“They let the dogs out and dug a lot of holes in the backyard. I tried to tell them that’s where Shane grows his weed.
“He grew about five plants one year, they were scattered all over the yard. They knew that, but they were still digging there.
What does he think they were looking for?
“I don’t know, him maybe? I’m sure they had to cross that off the list.
Smith says she waited a few days to report Edwards missing because her family thought he might just be taking a vacation.
She says police have raised several theories. “They said he might have another lover, he might be off the grid…”
But she has barely heard from the police since last year, she says. “They don’t tell me anything, they just don’t keep me informed.”
Kristel Yardley/Miscellaneous
Alvina Smith is comforted by a friend at her emergency home.
The police refused to give anyone for questioning in the case. In a statement, they said this remains an active missing person case, but they have “grave concerns” for Edwards given the amount of time that has passed.
They continue to pursue leads and “report any developments [family] routine”.
Smith has given up hope of ever seeing her partner again.
“I don’t think he’s here with us. But I don’t know what happened to him and how. I’m not on good terms with Shane’s family – we’ve never seen eye to eye – so that makes it a bit more difficult.”
She and her boys, ages 5, 7 and 9, are struggling in emergency housing. “I looked for a house for us, but we don’t even go in to look at the homes. I looked everywhere.”
This year has been about trying to overcome her grief, she says.
“I’ve done a lot of self-healing courses, I’m trying to work on myself.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 105 – either by calling or online at police.govt.nz/use-105 ‘Report Update’ and file reference 220518/6338.