It would be a relief when the mystery was finally solved, the
brother-in-law of missing millionaire Herman Rockefeller said
yesterday.
The family experienced another day under intense media
scrutiny yesterday as police confirmed they suspected foul
play in the case of the missing businessman, but still
stopped short of confirming they had found a body.
The millionaire businessman's wife, Vicky (nee Lawson), hails
from Waikouaiti.
Her brother Jim Lawson, who is in Melbourne to support his
sister, said he could not confirm rumours yesterday that Mr
Rockefeller's body had been found.
"I'd love to be able to tell you something, but I'm sorry, I
just can't.
"It's all in the police's hands.
"The sooner this is all over the better."
Victorian police said yesterday they now had "firm fears" for
Mr Rockefeller after the arrest of a couple, a 57-year-old
man and a 41-year-old woman, from a Hadfield, Melbourne,
house on Thursday.
Police had linked the pair to Mr Rockefeller.
Emergency service workers are combing a 3km-strip of dense
bushland in a state forest north of Melbourne.
Police have also issued an exclusion zone for the area at
Heathcote, about 45km from Bendigo.
Members of the State Emergency Service were doing a line
search of the area yesterday while a police helicopter
searched from the air.
Police extended the crime scene outside the Hadfield
townhouse, where the couple were arrested, to prevent
onlookers from peering into a beige Holden Commodore station
wagon parked on its front lawn.
The car, which carried a "for sale" sign and a cell phone
number written on its side windows, had had its seating
removed and replaced.
Its carpeting appeared to have been draped over its rear
seats.
They were also asking neighbours if they had seen the missing
man or his vehicle on the night he disappeared.
Forensic police were seen entering the townhouse on Thursday
night.
Police guarding the scene refused to comment.
The couple, who are being questioned, had not been charged
last night.
In a new development, a Sydney man had come forward claiming
he received text messages and calls sent to the missing man's
old cell phone.
Police confirmed they were studying calls made to a phone,
now owned by a Sydney man, who claimed he had been receiving
private calls for a man called Herman for the past 12 months.
The owner of the telephone said that he had bought the cell
phone about a year ago.
"Over the past 12 months I've had some calls and they've
asked for Herman," said the man, who would identify himself
only as Mark.
"It's obviously interested the police.
They said they will send somebody around to download all the
stuff."
Mr Rockefeller (52) left the long-term car park at Melbourne
Airport on January 21, but he did not travel on the usual
freeway route to his East Malvern home.
He has made no contact since, has not accessed his credit
cards and not activated his mobile phone.
His blue Toyota Prius sedan was found locked in the
countryside.
The Hadfield townhouse is less than 15 minutes from the
airport.
Police initially believed Mr Rockefeller might have
disappeared voluntarily and might have had a mental
breakdown.
They have established he was not the victim of a carjacking,
have no evidence of a kidnapping and nothing to indicate he
was an extortion or robbery victim.
