Family remembers 'vibrant' woman whose body found on Northland beach

August 6, 2024
Joanna Mai Sione-Lauaki.

The family of a woman found dead near a Northland beach say she was a "vibrant", "uplifting" woman who touched people's hearts.

Joanna Mai Sione-Lauaki was reported missing on Friday after failing to return home on Thursday night, Detective Senior Sergeant John Clayton said.

1News understands police were called after she texted the word "help" to her husband some time between Thursday night and Friday morning, when he saw the message.

Her body was found by a member of the public out for a walk around 5km north of the Omamari Beach settlement about 2pm on Friday.

Her vehicle was later found near the beach's public toilets. Police are treating the death as "unexplained".

Her sister-in-law Matilda Kahotea told 1News that Joanna – known as Jo – was "very vibrant".

"If you walk into a quiet room, she was the type of wāhine that would light it up," Kahotea said.

Joanna Mai Sione-Lauaki's sister-in-law Matilda Kahotea.

"She'd get in there, start laughing and then everybody would be laughing with her.

"Bubbly is an understatement actually... Her presence was uplifting."

Jo worked with Legacy Sisterhood, a woman's empowerment programme.

"For a wāhine so young, she experienced a lot and her lived experience gave her that courage to lead other wāhine through their hard times," Kahotea said. "That's what Joanna was good at.

Joanna Mai Sione-Lauaki.

"It's great to have her [body] back because the days leading up to and beforehand, since she went missing, were cold.

"And then like she does, she arrives and then we're all uplifted."

Kahotea urged anyone who saw Jo between Thursday and when her body was found to "come forward".

"If you walk into a quiet room, she was the type of wāhine that would light it up," Matilda Kahotea said of her sister-in-law Jo Sione-Lauaki. (Source: 1News)

"We desperately want answers... We don't know what happened yet, we deserve to know what happened."

Kahotea also praised the police officers involved in the investigation.

Jo's husband Jared Sione-Lauaki said the past few days have been a "roller coaster".

Joanna Mai Sione-Lauaki's husband Jared Sione-Lauaki.

"There's no word, any word that we can put out there to explain what we're going through at the moment."

The pair had been together for 21 years, he added: "She's been my rock since day one.

"She had a pretty big heart for people in general.

"She touched hundreds and hundreds of hearts and she'll continue to do so, regardless of whether she's here or up there."

Around where Jo was found was a "family spot", Jared said.

"That was somewhere where we would go as a family, whānau time to get off the farm, barbecues, and we used to go there for date nights, that was our place where we would go.

"I want answers," he added. "She was life, there was a never a dull moment with that lady around."

Police want to hear from anyone who may have seen her black Mitsubishi Outlander in the car park at Omamari Beach, or sightings of anyone near the car or on the beach on Thursday evening (1 August) or Friday morning (2 August).

Police are waiting for the results of an autopsy.

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