Tauranga missing man: Gregg Shaw’s brother feared the worst

Michael Shaw remembers hearing his older brother Gregg leave early on Christmas morning.

Gregg was driving from his home in Pāpāmoa that he shares with Michael to spend the day with his family in Gisborne. Except he didn’t make it.

The final exit was Gregg’s last known activity for nearly three days before he was found at the bottom of a bank in isolated Matawai yesterday. When he was a Christmas Eve baby, Gregg had just turned his birthday the day before.

Michael said he remembered hearing Gregg call his sister in Gisborne and leave at 5.30 am, “as was supposed.”

Michael then went back to sleep. It wasn’t until hours later that she saw that she had missed calls from her sister.

“I thought ‘holy hell, he’s probably calling me to wish me a merry Christmas and all.’ But they had been trying to locate me because Gregg hadn’t shown up. They had already crossed the gorge looking for him.”

In the days that followed, police publicly called for any sightings of Gregg or his brown Mazda Atenza and expressed concern for his well-being. The family paid for helicopters to search the route Gregg was believed to have taken and other searchers combed the area north of Gisborne for any signs.

Michael said those first 24 hours were “horrible.”

“Let me tell you, it never seems like a long time when it’s someone else, but 24 hours when your brother is missing, in a car somewhere, possibly sunk or the other way around, is an important period when a person needs help.”

Michael’s mind went to some dark places.

“I was very worried. The first day I thought ‘where the hell is he?’ They hadn’t found him. I started having these ‘what the heck’ scenarios playing out in my head, like a group of young thugs kidnapped him from a gas station. It’s not out of the question. And that gets into your head.

“I still hoped they would find him, but that he would be dead. Three days, what happens in three days?”

“In America, people go for a walk on Christmas Day and get off the road, and they don’t find them until the thaw.”

Gregg was found miraculously wounded but alive by the family search party shortly after 4 p.m. yesterday, on a bench off State Highway 2 near Matawai, a settlement an hour north of Gisborne. The area is one of the most isolated areas on the North Island and Michael believed his brother would have had his phone ready and charged, but no signal to call for help.

The road was closed between Cemetery Rd and Rakauroa Rd to allow Lowe Corporation’s rescue helicopter from Hawkes Bay to land and take Gregg to Gisborne Hospital.

Gregg was still in his wrecked car and firefighters came down the shore and cut through the roof of the car to get to him.

Michael said he was incredibly relieved and looked forward to seeing his brother again.

Michael admitted that his phone was not reliable and that he has not been able to speak to the rest of the family since they found Gregg.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that Gregg was injured but was “fine” when discovered.

“The police would like to thank everyone who assisted with our investigations and contacted information during the search for the man.”

Gregg is now stable at Gisborne Hospital.