Families of missing women fear worst as search grows
Police expanding investigation at farm near Salmon Arm where remains found
The six-day search of a Salmon Arm-area farm where human remains have been found is expected to intensify, as police plan to bring in more equipment and resources to help look for evidence on the rural property.
“There will be a visible increase at the site in the next couple of days,” said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk, spokesman for the RCMP Southeast District.
On Tuesday, three investigators donned latex gloves to search in and around a horse trailer near the entrance of the property at 2290 Salmon River Rd. in Silver Creek, where last Friday RCMP made the grim discovery while executing a search warrant.
Six police vehicles, including a mobile command unit, were parked at the site.
Curtis Wayne Sagmoen, whose parents own the farm, is in custody after a sex-trade worker was allegedly threatened with a firearm near the farm in August. He has not been charged in connection with the human remains found on the property.
The expanding search is troubling news to the five families with loved ones who have disappeared from communities near the farm over the last 20 months.
Alanna Wertz’s sister Deanna, 46, lived on the next country road over from the farm, and has been missing since July 19, 2016. Ashley Simpson, who lived two doors away from Deanna, disappeared three months earlier.
Police told both families at the beginning of the current search that there was no evidence it was related to the missing women, but as the investigation drags on their fears are mounting.
“Bodies are being found a street over, and you can’t help but wonder. And it is a sickening feeling, it really is,” Alanna told Postmedia News on Tuesday.
“It’s kind of mixed emotions. In one sense you want answers but in another sense you don’t want to hear those kinds of answers.”
Sagmoen, born in 1980, was arrested and charged last week with seven offences in connection with the August incident — disguising his face with intent to commit an offence, intentionally discharging a firearm, pointing a firearm, uttering threats, careless use or storage of a firearm, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and possession of a controlled substance.
Little is known about Sagmoen. Locals described his parents as “quiet, soft-spoken” people — good neighbours who were always helping fellow farmers in the community. The Sagmoens train cutting horses and have a good reputation in that industry, one neighbour said.
The area where the search is underway is rural countryside, which is why Deanna Wertz loved living there. On the morning of July 19, 2016, Deanna’s husband left for work and she told a relative over the phone that she was going for a hike. The artistic, outdoorsy woman left her wallet and identification in the house.
“It was just like ‘poof!’ — she was gone,” recalled Alanna, who lives in Summerland and last spoke with her sister about a week before she went missing.
“She was in great spirits … We were trying to plan to get together. We were very excited, it was a very amazing talk. We’ve had literally zero clues to where she is.”
Ashley Simpson’s father, John, said Monday he hopes his 32-yearold daughter is still alive, but at the same time wonders if the search of the farm may finally provide his family with answers after 18 months of desperate waiting. His daughter was supposed to move home to Ontario to work with him at a lodge for the summer, before vanishing in April 2016.
A third woman, Caitlin Potts, 27, was last in contact with family on Feb. 22. this year. There is an “unsubstantiated report” that Potts was last seen that morning at the Enderby bridge, which is about 28 km from the search scene, the RCMP’s Moskaluk said Tuesday.
Caitlin’s sister Codi Potts posted on Facebook Tuesday that she was worried her sister, who worked in the sex trade, could be connected to this farm because of the August incident involving the threat against an escort.
Enderby resident Jody Leon, who has organized rallies and marches to raise awareness about the missing women, said Caitlin Potts had a boyfriend who lived on another rural road less than a 30-minute drive from the farm being searched.
The extent of the search on the Sagmoen property is alarming, Leon added.
“It’s worrisome to know that these women are missing. It’s heartbreaking to know that their families don’t have the answers about where they are,” Leon said.
“It’s five women within the immediate area — within a half-hour drive radius — of where the main search site is.”
One of those women is Nicole Bell, missing from Malakwa north of Sicamous since Sept. 2. Her cousin Nadine Clements does not believe she has any connection to the farm or the investigation going on there.
“We are very hopeful that Nicole is going to come back and will be OK. She is a great person,” Clements said. “She is a very bubbly woman, and cares a lot about her children and her family.”
On Sept. 2, when Bell’s husband was away for work, the 31-yearold woman updated her Facebook page and was not heard from again. Her family has put up posters in multiple communities, frantically searching for answers.
She has three school-aged children, and it is very out of character for her to not be in contact with her family.
“They definitely miss their mom,” said Clements. “The two youngest don’t really understand what is going on. The oldest has seen some posters and is starting to ask some questions.”
The fifth missing woman is 18-year-old Traci Genereaux, last seen May 29 in Vernon.
Her father Darcy begged for answers on his Facebook page, noting she was last seen “getting into a white Chevy van by the old bottle depot in Vernon. She always keeps in touch with her mother or myself every couple days.”
Meanwhile, near the Sagmoen farm, a half-dozen neighbours declined to comment on the investigation, saying they’d only gleaned information from media reports or knew nothing at all about the family.
One neighbour, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, said their family only recently met Curtis Sagmoen, after living near his family for many years.
“I didn’t even know he existed ’til the last week or two,” the neighbour said.
“We didn’t even know who he was.”