Missing millionaire 'seen in rural shop'

The disappearance of Melbourne millionaire Herman Rockefeller has taken a twist with
an unconfirmed sighting in rural Victoria.
Jan Stiteri, co-owner of the Gordon General Store, says Mr Rockefeller came in on
Monday morning and had a hot pie, sausage roll and a drink and returned on Monday
afternoon to buy some milk.
She had a brief chat with him about his daughter, she says.
"We still don't know 100 per cent if it's him, but we're pretty sure," she told AAP
on Tuesday.
"He looked a little bit unshaven."
Gordon, a small township of less than 400 people, is close to where Mr Rockefeller's
2007 Toyota Prius was found undisturbed and locked near an abandoned country
homestead on Monday, parked near a riverbank in Ballan, about 75km west of
Melbourne.
Mr Rockefeller, 52, vanished on Thursday from Melbourne Airport as his very private
family was forced to make public appeals for information on his whereabouts.
A family spokeswoman told AAP the Rockefeller family does not have any connections
to the Gordon area and police have not told them of any possible sightings at this
time.
A police spokeswoman confirmed homicide detectives visited the Gordon General Store
on Tuesday around 1.15pm (AEDT), but would not discuss any details of the
investigation.
But Ms Stiteri says police probably have enough information to confirm if it's a
positive sighting based on the conversation she had with him and prints or DNA
evidence gathered at the store.
"He said something about one of the children and if it's true it's him," she said,
explaining that detectives told her not to reveal the exact piece of information so
it can be confirmed with the family.
Mr Rockefeller also touched something behind the store and investigators spent time
examining it, she says.
She didn't notice, however, if the man she thinks is Mr Rockefeller came to the
store in a vehicle or was travelling alone.
"It was just a short chat," she said.
"To be truthful we were so busy here, I sort of served him and that was it."
Police say they have received a number of tips from the public but further searches
are not planned after a ground search in rural grassland by his abandoned car turned
up no evidence of foul play.
Friends and family are at a loss to explain why Mr Rockefeller, a Harvard graduate
and property investor, suddenly vanished without a trace.
"We've been through the phone records, credit cards, banks, tollways, everything. I
mean everything possible has been checked and there's just nothing," his wife,
Vicky, told ABC Radio on Monday.
While Mr Rockefeller's car was last seen leaving the Melbourne Airport long-term
parking lot about 9.30pm (AEDT) on Thursday, it's still not clear who was actually
driving the vehicle.
"The footage we've got is him leaving the terminal, and then next we see the car
leaving the long-term car park," police spokesman Senior Constable Adam West told
AAP.
"The footage shows an arm using a credit card, so as far as a possible ID, that
hasn't been possible. They haven't got a face image on that. They believe it's him,
but we haven't got that 100 per cent."
Mrs Rockefeller said her husband had been in great spirits, and there were no
disputes, conflicts or hints of a secret life to arouse suspicion.
He had just returned from a four-day interstate business trip where he met Peter
Blackmore, Mayor of Maitland in NSW, who said he appeared happy and talked of coming
back in a few weeks with his father.