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A Dargaville mother-of-eight found dead in circumstances police have described as “unexplained” texted him one word before she disappeared - ‘Help’, her grieving husband says.

The body of Jo Sione-Lauaki, known affectionately to her family as “Jojo”, was found about 2pm yesterday between Omamari and Aranga beaches, a remote stretch of coastline about 35 kilometres north-west of Dargaville.

Her husband and father of their eight kids aged between 12 and 22 confirmed the 38-year-old’s death to the Herald tonight.

“She was the most loving mother that anyone could ask for”, Jared Sione-Lauaki said, his voice breaking.

“No one’s gonna replace her.”

The tragedy is the second to strike the family in less than two years after the couple’s daughter Jacinda Sione-Lauaki died aged 19 in a Christmas Eve 2022 car crash.

Jared Sione-Lauaki with his wife, Jo Sione-Lauaki, whose body was found on Omamari Beach in Northland on Friday August 2 2024 in circumstances police have described as "unexplained".

This afternoon, police announced they were treating Jo Sione-Lauaki’s death as “unexplained”.

A post-mortem was taking place in Auckland today, Detective Senior Sergeant John Clayton said this afternoon.

“Enquiries are ongoing into the circumstances leading up to her body being located.”

Sione-Lauaki was reported missing yesterday after she failed to return home Thursday night. Police later found her vehicle at Omamari Beach, with cordons put up and forensic examinations taking place.

Police hadn’t told him what they thought may have happened, but Jared Sione-Lauaki “definitely knew someone else was involved”, he said.

“Because I know my wife. She sent me a text that just said, ‘Help’, and my wife would never send me a text unless it was something very serious.

“Like if it was a dead battery or she got stuck at the beach, she would’ve explained herself. But to send ‘Help’, that caught my guts a bit.”

The dairy farm worker didn’t receive the text until he woke at 5.15am, but couldn’t tell when it had been sent because his phone had been on flight mode.

“I text, I rang, I text, I rang, I text, I rang.”

But there was no response.

Sione-Lauaki went to work but about 9.20am told his boss “Something’s not right … my wife’s missing, I need to go”, went home to pick up his daughter and began searching.

The 43-year-old wasn’t concerned before going to bed around 8.30pm or 9pm on Thursday night because his wife had told him she was going back to the beach, after visiting earlier in the day.

“That’s normal for her to do that sort of thing.”

Father and daughter searched the beach north of Baylys, but something stopped him from going as far north as his wife’s body was later found, Jared Sione-Lauaki said.

“I think that was my spirit telling me not to go find her my damn self. I don’t know how I’d deal with myself if I found my own wife lying there like that.”

The pair then reported Sione-Lauaki missing to police.

“I had this really ugly feeling in my gut.”

He was surprised his wife had gone to Omamari Beach, as the family usually went to Baylys Beach further south when they ran their own sharemilking business, and later when working for another farmer.

“Farm life is quite taxing and you don’t get much time off but any moment that we did get with our kids in the summertime, we usually spend it anywhere near the beach or the water.

“[Baylys] is where I thought she was going [on her second visit Thursday], because she told me she was going back there because she’d had a really awesome day out there with our dog.”

Omamari Beach is about 35km northwest of Dargaville, with Aranga Beach further north again. Image / Google Earth

Sione-Lauaki visited Baylys Beach on Thursday with the family dog before returning home for the “school run” and going to The Warehouse to buy school shoes for their youngest child.

She then told her husband in their last conversation later that day that she was going back to the beach that night, he said.

She didn’t take the dog the second time.

“I have no clue why she went to Omamari, because we never went to that side, ever.”

He understood her body was found above the high tide line, but he wasn’t sure if she’d been in the water before she died.

If she had, it wouldn’t be normal.

“I’ve been with that lady 21 years .. and she’s never set foot in the freaking ocean water ever. That’s why I know something’s not right.”

He’s a member of Black Power, but they didn’t have any enemies, Jared Sione-Lauaki said.

“We’re not all a**holes, we all have hearts and emotions and it’s not everything that you see on telly … when I was out in the community I always smiled, I can mingle with just about anybody, regardless of who I am.

“It didn’t matter if it was opposition or anything like that, I’ll still give them the same love and respect as if they were my family or my brothers.”

Police told them late this afternoon Sione-Lauaki’s body was being released tonight, he said.

He expected she’d be returned to Northland tomorrow, when he and his kids would go to the funeral home to dress her, before bringing her “home” ahead of an eventual funeral and cremation.

“And then the ashes will be split between all of her children, and me.”

His partner of 21 years and wife of “seven or eight” years was “loud, bubbly and very, very, very stubborn” but also “vibrant and beautiful”, Jared Sione-Lauaki said of his wife Jo Sione-Lauaki, whose body was found on a Northland beach yesterday.

The couple were born and bred Aucklanders, but Sione-Lauaki - whose maiden name was Panapa - was Ngāpuhi and her marae was Ahikiwi north of Dargaville, Jared Sione-Lauaki said.

He’d remember his partner of 21 years and wife of “seven or eight” years as “loud, bubbly and very, very, very stubborn” as well as “vibrant and beautiful”.

“She loved her kids, [and] she loved me, regardless if I was a bit of a bastard.”

* Police want to hear from anyone who saw a woman wearing a green puffer jacket north of Omamari Beach between 8pm on Thursday August 1, and 10am yesterday (August 2). They should call police on 105 and reference the file number: 240803/9062. Information can also be shared anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.