Police searching for Raymond and James Fleet have found two bodies in the Mamaku Forest.
The uncle and nephew were reported missing on August 9.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark van Kempen said yesterday while the bodies were yet to be formally identified, police at this stage believed they were the missing men.
Post-mortems would be conducted to help in the identification and to determine the cause of death.
Police were treating the deaths as suspicious, and a scene examination would continue today.
The pair mysteriously disappeared over a week ago.
James Fleet (25), who worked as a roofer in Rotorua, was last seen on the Monday night.
At about 6.30pm a man knocked on the door of his grandmother's house, where James was living, and he went to the door.
It is understood he then left with the man, without his wallet, shoes and keys.
Raymond Fleet's partner, Michiko Suzuki, said she spoke to Raymond by phone at 1pm last Monday when he was at his mother's house a couple of doors away.
When she got home from work at 6pm she busied herself getting the washing off the line and preparing dinner but said she didn't see her partner.
"I haven't seen or heard from him since that day. His car was here and he always takes his car. He's a truck driver so he loves driving his car," she said.
Ms Suzuki tried ringing Raymond that night but he did not answer his phone. The next day the phone went straight to answer machine. She said it was out of character for him not to call or text.
Ms Suzuki told NZME her children were too scared to go home until their dad was back with them.
"My nine-year-old keeps asking if his dad is okay and where he is. He is too scared to go home," Ms Suzuki said.
Volunteers from the small community in Mamaku began their own search for the men on Tuesday.
