Five families have submitted DNA
Samples will be compared to remains found on farm: father
The DNA of five women missing from the North Okanagan and Shuswap has been collected by police, their relatives confirm, as RCMP continue to investigate a Salmon Arm-area farm where human remains were found nearly two weeks ago.
The RCMP will not confirm the DNA collection, will not say if the human remains found on the farm represent one or more people, and will not discuss any connection to the missing women.
“The RCMP has not made any statements with respect to possible linkages to all these files that are outstanding, and again we’ve asked for patience,” Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Tuesday.
Police are also tight-lipped about how much longer the search will continue at Curtis Sagmoen’s family’s farm in Silver Creek, where police have moved in multiple tents, trailers, fencing and highpowered lights as they scour the 9.7-hectare property. The search, which began Oct. 21, has involved everything from backhoes to underwater divers.
“The Salmon River watercourse does intersect the property, therefore we do have underwater recovery team members actively searching all that property given that there are volumes of water on it,” Moskaluk said, declining to indicate what, if anything, the divers have found.
Sagmoen faces no charges in relation to the remains, but he has been in custody since Oct. 20, when he was charged in connection with a sex-trade worker being threatened with a shotgun near the farm in August. Police would later issue a safety warning to sex-trade workers in the area; some but not all of the missing women had experience with the sex-trade industry.
Darcy Genereaux, the father of one of the missing women, said he submitted blood samples for DNA testing Friday, five months after Traci Genereaux vanished from Vernon. As he was giving blood, he said a constable told him the coroner would test it to see if his DNA matched remains found on the farm.
“I’d still rather her not be there,” Genereaux said on the phone from Vernon. “It doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case. There are a couple of ways to look at it. One is that we’ll get some closure, I guess. But it’s definitely not the closure I’m looking for.”
A blood sample was also collected Friday from Laurie Nixon, Traci’s mother, who stressed her understanding is that her donation had nothing to do with the search on the farm.
“There is no connection to the other investigation. I gave DNA only as part of the procedure for missing persons,” Nixon said.
The first of the missing women to vanish was Caitlin Potts, last seen Feb. 22, 2016. Her boyfriend lived on a rural road outside Enderby, and police are investigating claims she was last seen on the outskirts of that town, about 28 kilometres from the Sagmoen farm.
Potts’ sister Codi confirmed her mother gave hair and blood samples to the police for DNA testing the month after Caitlin disappeared.
The next to vanish was Ashley Simpson, who lived one county road over from the Sagmoen farm and went missing April 30, 2016. Her father John Simpson said police collected saliva swabs from him and his wife shortly after Ashley, 32, went missing that spring, and asked for her dental records in January.
Deanna Wertz, 46, was neighbours with Simpson, also living one road over from the Sagmoen farm, and has not been heard from since July 19, 2016. Her sister Alanna recently asked whether police needed DNA samples from her family.
“They’ve told me they have Deanna’s DNA to cross-check with, and if they needed more to test from, then they would ask us when that time comes,” Alanna Wertz said.
The last of the five to disappear is Nicole Bell, 31. Bell is from Sicamous, but her cellphone was found in Salmon Arm after all communication with her family, including her three young children, suddenly stopped on Sept. 2. Her DNA was collected by police after she vanished.
John Simpson said he has also been told not to assume that the human remains on the farm have anything to do with his missing loved one. But the wait is excruciating, he said, and it is hard to remain positive when it has been 18 months since anyone heard from his daughter.
“My wife is on pins and needles,” he said. “The sooner we get closure — it may not be us, but (the search) will give someone closure.”
The RCMP knows there is interest in this case, both locally and across B.C., but asked for patience as the search continues.
“We want to assure the public that the investigation and the physical search of the property is proceeding in a matter that we’re ensuring is done effectively and properly,” Moskaluk said.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth would not provide any details Tuesday. “I can assure the public the RCMP have all the resources they need, they are conducting a very thorough investigation, and when I’m able to say more, I will,” he said.
Locals, who see the increased police activity on the farm, remain frustrated by the lack of information.
“People don’t know what is going on,” said Jody Leon, a member of the local First Nation and an organizer of many rallies to remember the missing women.
“I think that people are really tense.”
My wife is on pins and needles … it may not be us, but (the search) will give someone closure.