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.
