Family won’t give up hunt for senior
Family members want to bring home an 81-year-old Bowser man with dementia who has been missing for a week, alive or dead.
“We haven’t decided when we are going to stop — that subject hasn’t even come up,” said Corinne Redgate, daughter of the missing man, James Roberts.
“We are aware that most likely if we do find him, he will have passed,” Redgate said Wednesday. “But especially for his wife, she needs closure. The idea that he could be left out there is upsetting.
“We need to do what’s right for him.”
Roberts was last seen at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 4 outside his mobile home at Vacation Village on Lioness Boulevard in Bowser. His wife of 29 years, Linda Thompson, stepped inside for a moment, “and he was gone,” Redgate said.
About 160 trained searchers combed the Qualicum River area north to Deep Bay before concluding their search Sunday afternoon.
Arrowsmith Search and Rescue manager Bob McClelland said searchers did everything they could. The area is surrounded by thick forest and dense brush.
On Wednesday, family and friends were still searching, Redgate said.
“We have good moments and bad moments, times when the reality of the situation hits home and you become emotional, and then we just go back to the [mindset] that we are going to bring him home one way or another — we need that peace of mind,” she said.
A family friend, a hunter with a dog, was headed to Bowser Wednesday to search at night in hopes that different lighting might help. “He told the family: ‘He’s 81 and he deserves to be found,’ ” Redgate said.
The Qualicum First Nation has offered assistance in searching nearby trails. Redgate’s daughter from Chetwynd was also headed to Bowser and another family friend has arrived from Ottawa.
All of Roberts’ four adult children — from Nanaimo, Tofino, Cumberland and Ottawa — remain in Bowser this week. Those who aren’t actively searching are helping in whatever way they can, Redgate said.
“I can’t say enough about what all these people have done and all the people who have stepped forward.”
The family has set up a Facebook page called “Finding Jim Roberts” and is distributing posters, while a team has been organized to check neighbouring outbuildings. Truckers are being advised in case Roberts was given a ride on Highway 19A.
The RCMP continue to treat the case as an active missing person’s file, Redgate said.
Oceanside Cpl. Jesse Foreman said the detachment received a tip Tuesday about an elderly man who was “close” to the description of Roberts walking along Highway 19A, heading toward the edge of Bowser.
The RCMP immediately sent three officers and a dog and also directed its helicopter to fly overhead, Foreman said. No one was found and no further leads developed from that search.
“Although we don’t have boots on the ground — search and rescue — we are going to actively investigate any tip that comes through,” Foreman said. “We do not close missing person files until the person is found or…”
Another tip came in about a man close to Roberts’ description hitchhiking to Port Alberni from Coombs on Feb. 4. Unfortunately, there are many people fitting the senior’s description in the retirement area, his daughter said.
Although Roberts has advanced dementia, this is the first time he has gone missing, family said.
Roberts has 10 grandchildren and two greatgrandsons, with a third on the way.
There are several recreational trails near Roberts’ home, as well as rugged forest and dense brush.
Roberts is described as a “very friendly” and active man standing six-foot--two and slender with short grey hair and green eyes.
He has glasses and was wearing blue jeans, a green jacket and a brown-andwhite hat when he went missing.
The family is asking the public to report any sightings to Oceanside RCMP at 250-248-6111.
“We realize with every day that passes that people’s memories are faded,” Redgate said. “But we’re not leaving any stone unturned.”