A ROCKEFELLER RIDDLE

It would be a helluva mystery story even if his name wasn’t Rockefeller.  A Melbourne millionaire gets off a plane at Tullamarine Airport, gets into his car in the parking lot, pays the exit toll and disappears. Herman Rockefeller did that last Thursday night and hasn’t been seen since. Neither has his car. The East Malvern father of two has not contacted his wife, Vicky, has not turned on his mobile phone, hasn’t used an ATM. Nothing.

His wife says ‘You can’t imagine what it’s like. It’s unbearable.’
 
Police have checked CCTV footage and can confirm the following: Rockefeller, no relation to the American dynasty, got off a Virgin flight from Brisbane at 9.m. Thursday.
 
There’s footage of him walking through the terminal carrying a laptop computer, satchel and three grapefruit he had bought earlier in the day.
 
(Well, he’s broken the law there, carrying fruit across state lines).
 
He collected his car, a 2007 Toyota Prius, registration UUP 682, and paid the parking fee with a credit card at 9.32 p.m.
 
And this is where the plot thickens. He did not use the most likely route home on City Link and did not turn his mobile phone on after getting off the plane. He just vanished.
 
What intrigues me is that the Police didn’t announce he was missing for more than 48 hours. Didn’t release a photo or a description of his car for ages.
 
His brother Robert said he had just spent ‘probably the best four days I’ve spent with my brother’ on a business trip up north.
 
Sen-Det. Peter Towner of Stonnington CIU said the case was the most puzzling in his 31-year career.
 
There are several possible scenarios: Herman Rockefeller has met with foul play, he has had an accident (highly unlikely), he has staged his disappearance or he has harmed himself.
 
Wherever he is, the former CUB director turns 52 today. Forget ‘many happy returns’. His family just wants a return.  Somebody somewhere knows, or has seen, something.
 
Rockefeller is 170cm tall, medium build with short, balding hair and when last seen at the airport was wearing a grey business suit and white shirt and carrying three grapefruit.
 
Monday, January 25, 2010

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2010