Five years missing: Eloi Rolland’s family holds onto hope for answers

French exchange student, Eloi Rolland, was last seen five years ago, today.

The then-18-year-old's disappearance has baffled authorities ever since... Was it a murder, kidnapping, an accident, did he get lost in the bush, commit suicide or plan an escape. Is he still alive, does he want to be found?

He searches Google Maps for directions to Piha about 5am the morning he vanished. He catches a train. He walks for nearly two hours. He turned on to Piha Road at 9.16am. At 9.48 the battery on his phone goes dead.

And then... nothing. Nothing for five years.

Today on The Front Page, Herald senior journalist Anna Leask joins us as we take a look back at Eloi’s disappearance.  

We’ll also hear some from Eloi’s parents, Thierry and Catherine, and Bruno Dupuis of Acapella Productions, who directed a documentary series in France about Eloi’s story.

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You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills

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