Was she taken? Family of missing Marlborough woman Jessica Boyce fear foul play

Friday, 10 May 2019

The family of missing Marlborough woman Jessica Boyce are worried she may have been taken.

Boyce's mother Kay Johnstone said family and friends began to suspect, within days of her disappearance, that Boyce, 27, might have been kidnapped from a forest park.

'The whole thing was stale from the moment they found the ute. Nothing felt right. It [Lake Chalice] is not her playground. She wouldn't go up there. The whole thing is weird,' Johnstone said.

Boyce was last seen on March 19, driving her mother's red Holden ute. Two hikers found the vehicle abandoned near Lake Chalice, in Mount Richmond Forest Park, 90 minutes west of Blenheim, on March 22, and called police.

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Two hikers found the red ute Jessica Boyce took to Lake Chalice on March 22.

Inside the ute were Boyce's wallet, spiritual crystals and phone, with no sim card. The car was unlocked and both the front windows were down.

Her family found it odd Boyce's vehicle was parked on the mountain track and her stuff was in the car.

'It was the way they found the ute … the whole thing just looked like she'd been taken,' Johnstone said.

A missing person's poster of Renwick woman Jessica Boyce at Watery Mouth Cafe, in Blenheim.

'She might have been up there [at Lake Chalice], but she never made it out of there by herself.

'We think she's been taken. We do. We've told the police that.

'Jess could have been picked up and held somewhere, but without the right material that they need, police can't do much.'

A police spokeswoman said on Thursday that police were continuing to carry out searches of the area, and information continued to be received and investigated.

She did not confirm whether police had ruled out kidnapping.

Police and LandSAR searched the forest park and its huts when the red Holden was found, but suspended their efforts on March 26 until more information came forward.

Boyce's family and friends later turned their attentions to Nelson and Motueka in case she had travelled over there.

'But unless people come forward, there's nothing you can do. We're just praying she's still alive,' Johnstone said.

She said if Boyce had been taken, it would have been by people who were 'not her friends'.

'They would have taken her for their own reasons,' she said.

'We're hoping if someone has taken her, they will let her go … [that] they kick her out of their car somewhere and let her come home.'

Johnstone said she was concerned for her daughter's safety, as her mind was 'like a 6-year-old's' when she went missing.

Boyce had depression, anxiety, memory problems due to a car accident two years earlier, and was self-medicating, she said.

Boyce was referred to the Marlborough Mental Health Service, in Blenheim, by her doctor on February 12 and 21, weeks before her disappearance, but was turned away both times.

'That's why I was trying to get her into care. If she has been picked up, they've got a child in their hands, someone who doesn't understand life as we know it,' Johnstone said.

The website 'Help Find Jess' was set up by her family last month so people could write in anonymously.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Blenheim police on 03 578 5279. Alternatively, anonymous tips can be passed on to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.