Tauranga Police have confirmed they have new leads from the community about the disappearance of Luana Williams from her Gate Pa home 27-years-ago.

Police are offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to an arrest in the cold case of the missing 25-year-old.

Luana Deborah Laverne Williams.

It's the second time a reward has been offered by police for information. In 1994 police offered $20,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of Luana, known by family as Laverne.

The former Otumoetai College student was last seen at her Munro Road home, now the Mitre 10 Mega carpark, on June 5, 1986.

'We know that over time allegiances and associations change,” says Detective Inspector Mark Loper.

'We know that there may be people in the fringe group, not in the main group, who may have information and they may at this time be willing to part with this information.”

At a stand-up press conference at Tauranga Police station today, detectives would not be drawn on what the new information is, or where it came from, only that 'it has come from the community.'

Police began a review of the Luana's cold case file 18 months ago, and have been working on and off it since then.

Mark would not comment on the former police investigation in the months following her disappearance in 1986, which people close to the case have criticised.

'We are focussed today on moving this inquiry forward,” says Mark.

'We had to take the file, peel it back to the original. There were pieces missing out of it that we could not find. We have had to invent ways to try and find a way to fill those gaps, and I'm talking now about witnesses that we knew were around, but that we have not been able to locate.”

A number of enquiries came out of the review and police carried out those inquiries and received information they are now actively pursuing.

It is information that hasn't previously been brought to police attention and has taken the investigation in a different direction, says Mark.

'Our focus is on getting as much information as we can about her (Luana's) associates and associations, so we can continue to interview those persons.”

Luana was reported missing from her Munro Street home by her then partner Steve Prole.

According to a report in the North and South magazine in August, Luana had finished her shift at Harvey Farms egg processing plant at 3.15pm on June 5 and returned to the house she shared with Steve.

At about 8pm Steve and Tauranga resident Ross Mischewski went to a Greerton pub for drinks. Steve then returned home at 4am the following morning to find Luana gone.

Ross believes Luana was abducted when she answered the door, without ever returning inside.

'She was absolutely perfect within the house, she wouldn't move two inches away from the dog, which had broken its leg,” Ross told SunLive today.

'She was massaging it every five minutes because the vet said to massage its leg. She absolutely adored that dog. And it sat in the basket right next to where she was sitting. The fire screen was down, the stereo was running, the wine glass was half empty.

'She went to the door, I believe, and somebody abducted her from that door, and she didn't go back to sit down.

'And when you saw the scene you realised straight away there was no sign of struggle. But there was definitely an indication she was taken from there.”

The door was unlocked, the lights were on, the fire guard was away from the fire and Luana's half-finished drink and cigarettes were on the table, says Ross.

'I knew her as a person and when I saw the scene I said; ‘We have to go to the police' and we did.”

'In the end he had to go to a friend of his (Steve) who was a policeman to get somebody (police) to come round. And he left the scene like that for three days, and then they (police) told him just to clean it all up.”

Luana's disappearance is treated as a homicide, but no body has ever been found. According to media reports Luana was declared legally dead in February 1998, but the case has remained unsolved.

Anyone with information relevant to Operation Williams is asked to contact Tauranga Police on 07 577 4300. Information can also be provided anonymously to the organisation Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.