Judy Donovan went missing in late March and extensive searches failed to find her
Her friends and family are sad yet thankful that Judy Donovan has, at last, found her way home.
Despite an extensive search at the time, the experienced outdoors woman lay undiscovered for almost a year.
Last week Sophie Juno found Judy’s body in Pureora Forest while looking for another missing person. The Juno family called Judy’s daughter, Nic, with the news.
“I’d really like to thank Sophie. Sophie and her chocolate lab were searching for a young guy who’s missing,” Nic said.
“It’s a really big fluke and a sad, bittersweet feeling that Judy was discovered because somebody else is lost. If it wasn’t for that, we may never have found her.
“Experienced local hunters have a finely honed skill set and an instinct about their home turf that is unique. Sophie is a great example of that. Those skills are a valuable resource in a search and rescue situation.”
Sophie is the daughter of Allen Juno, who owns a farm at Ngaroma and announced last July he was working on forming a group based on the concept of using local knowledge when searches were required.
Judy became separated from her group in dense bush in late March last year. The group was doing bait line maintenance in preparation to lay bait for a project supported by the Department of Conservation.
The initial search was suspended in early April after about nine days and briefly resumed for two days in May when Land Search and Rescue returned with dogs.
“I want to thank Waikato LandSar, local hunters and farmers who have never stopped searching, and everyone else involved,” Nic said.
“It was a huge area of bush, and a lot of searching happened. We were still trying to nut it out after the official search ended.”
She assumed after three weeks that the search would be for her mum’s body – “but we didn’t give up on finding her.”
Judy was found to the east of the original search site.
The family was grateful to police and Waikato LandSar for the speedy and sensitive recovery of Judy’s remains, Nic said.
She was a fit, healthy 79-year-old, experienced in the outdoors.
The Pukekohe Tramping Club member was named an Outdoor Access Champion in 2022 for her work establishing walking trails.
“Under pressure in an outdoor situation, when plans go awry, it’s easy to make a split second bad decision,” Nic said. “It’s an incredibly tragic mistake on her part.”
Judy’s family is now planning a memorial service.
“We’ll have a memorial/funeral sometime in the autumn and will make an announcement closer to the time about date and location.”
