The man at the centre of a 13-year cold case is most likely dead, a coroner has ruled.

Robert Te Paewhenua Roberts was last seen on November 30, 2004, driving his Fulton Hogan work van off the Kaimai lookout.

The van was found 250 metres down the cliff, but despite an extensive search and the use of a cadaver dog, his body was never found.

Robert Roberts drove this van off the Kaima lookout. The mangled Fulton Hogan van was recovered days later. Photo: Stuff.

An inquest was launched in September, with several witnesses, family members, and experts giving evidence.

At the eleventh hour, and after reading media coverage of the inquest, two of Roberts' former colleagues approached Stuff to say they had seen the 53-year-old years after he was reported missing.

Their affidavits were given to Coroner Gordon Matenga the week before Matenga was to announce his decision.

Both witnesses were working for Fulton Hogan on the day Roberts, a father of nine, disappeared.

Brian Worth was at Bayfair Shopping Centre in Tauranga five years ago - or eight years after Roberts went missing - when he spotted a familiar face.

Brian worked with Roberts for several months in 2003 on a Fulton Hogan site in Tauranga.

He was within three metres of Roberts when the pair locked eyes.

He thought the mystery was over and hadn't heard much about the case in the intervening years, until he saw the Stuff article.

Brian says Roberts, or Bob as he knew him, was gentle and full of wisdom.

Roberts' family gave evidence at the inquest, and son Lester Roberts told the coroner he believed his father was alive.

But the experts say Roberts did not want to be found and his body is still somewhere in the dense Kaimai bush.

There were extensive searches in the days and months after Roberts' death.

The only thing searchers found was a neatly folded pile of clothes, said to belong to Roberts, hidden in a hollow log.

He hasn't set up a bank account or accessed any benefits, nor has he applied for a passport.

Lester Roberts told the coroner his dad was a good man, a family man.

Roberts' failure to contact his family was one of the reasons for the coroner's ruling.

"There can only be two alternatives. Either he has made his way out of the bush and remains in hiding from his previous life, alive and well under an assumed identity. Or, he did not make his way out of the bush and has died," the decision read.

Matenga went on to say there were extensive searches and a public campaign for sightings of the missing Bay of Plenty man.

He took into consideration the sworn statements from the former colleagues but said they could have been mistaken.

"While the family wanted to believe Mr Roberts was still alive, they each accepted the likelihood that he is deceased.

"The Bob Roberts that they knew would not have completely abandoned contact with whānau ... accordingly, I find that Mr Roberts is missing presumed deceased."

- Stuff/DONNA-LEE BIDDLE