940 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Oh my. Not good.

We need you help as we work to locate high-risk missing woman Melissa McDevitt.

Melissa, 38, is described as a Caucasian woman standing five feet tall and slim, weighing 105 pounds. Melissa has a very small build and her family describe her feet as children’s sized. She lives with alopecia and may be wearing a wig or have short, dyed, rainbow-coloured hair. Melissa is neuro-divergent and may appear to show signs of cognitive delay. Two recent photos of Melissa are below.

Melissa drives a 2015 grey Subaru Forester with a North Carolina plate. She loves to hike near the Sooke Pot Holes area as well as neighboring trails such as John Stick Peak, Malcolm, The Donald, Mike Hill, the Three Amigos, and Tony’s Triumph. Melissa’s vehicle was located in the area of the Sooke Pot Holes earlier today. Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue are responding to the area to search for Melissa now. Photographs of Melissa’s vehicle from today are below.

Melissa’s family last spoke to her on Thursday evening. She was supposed to travel from Victoria to Vancouver and board a flight today, but did not arrive. This is extremely out of the ordinary for Melissa and her family and officers have significant concerns for her well-being.

VicPD officers are coordinating with Sooke RCMP, Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue, as well as local, provincial, national and international partner agencies as we search for Melissa. The circumstances under which she has gone missing are considered very high-risk.

Investigators are asking anyone who saw Melissa or her vehicle from Thursday, December 8, 2022 to today, to come forward.

If you see Melissa McDevitt, stay with her and call 911 immediately. If you saw Melissa or her vehicle in the last few days, or have information about where she may be, please call (250) 995-7654 extension 1.

[pontcanna]

Oh my. Not good.

We need you help as we work to locate high-risk missing woman Melissa McDevitt.

 

[Mike K.]

Pont, did you hear about the fellow who was found deceased on the Kludahk Trail near Sooke recently? Apparently he went hunting, and died of hypothermia.

[pontcanna]

Pont, did you hear about the fellow who was found deceased on the Kludahk Trail near Sooke recently? Apparently he went hunting, and died of hypothermia.

 

No, not familiar with this.

[davidN]

Does anyone know if a local Colwood man who went missing in 2020/21 was ever found?

I believe the name is Geoff Irwin and he was a local hockey player that was fairly well known.

[Mike K.]

Sorry David, I can’t recall if that case was resolved or not.

[Victoria Watcher]

McDevitt, 38, is from the United States but lives in Sooke. An avid hiker, she is often found at Sooke Potholes and nearby peaks and trails.

 

McDevitt’s parents in North Carolina last spoke to her on Thursday night. She planned to travel by ferry to Vancouver from Victoria, and board the United States-bound flight the next day but never arrived.

 

 

This is extremely out of the ordinary for McDevitt. Her family and police have significant concerns for her well-being, said Victoria police spokesman Bowen Osoko on Sunday. Her family is expected to travel here, he said.

 

McDevitt drives a 2015 grey Subaru Forester with a North Carolina plate. Once notified of her disappearance, police found her vehicle Saturday at a popular gravel parking lot for hikers at Sooke Potholes.

 

There are mild and moderate risk trails at Sooke Potholes but if a hiker gets lost off-trail that terrain can become challenging. Cold temperatures and precipitation and the breadth of the steep, forested and remote area have made the search challenging, said Osoko.

 

 

https://www.timescol...otholes-6229469

[Victoria Watcher]

More than seven months have passed since Ryan Albert was last seen. The family has mobilized in Sooke and beyond to obtain information on his whereabouts, but so far to little avail.

 

“If anyone has seen him, let me know. It’s hard to function,” said his mother, Paula Albert, who travelled from her Sooke home on Wednesday to begin a search in Port Coquitlam.

 

Albert, 28, moved from Ontario to Sooke around 2006 with his family. He obtained his general electrician’s licence and worked for a local company.

 

Three years ago, his life changed. He quit his well-paying job, sold off his possessions and became homeless. Nobody knows why.

 

Albert is described as a 5-foot-8 white male with blue eyes and dark blond hair, weighing 140 pounds. He was last seen near Whiffin Spit Road on May 11.

 

The family reported Albert missing to the Sooke RCMP on June 29.

 

“We have no new information,” said Sgt. Kevin Shaw, an RCMP spokesperson.

 

“The challenge with this is that it is as likely he’s on the Island as in the Interior or the Lower Mainland. We simply don’t know at this point.”

 

According to Paula, Albert would take a bus from downtown Victoria to Sooke once a week and visit. He would also telephone regularly.

 

“He was very much a family guy. He was the glue that held the family together. Family is really important to him,” she said.

 

But in the late afternoon of May 22, a volatile disagreement erupted in the family home after his parents said he couldn’t live there. Albert declared he was moving to Vancouver.

 

 

 

https://www.vicnews....or-missing-son/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 December 2022 - 06:53 AM.

[Mike K.]

According to Paula, Albert would take a bus from downtown Victoria to Sooke once a week and visit. He would also telephone regularly.

The article says the mother lives in Sooke, and Albert also lived in Sooke, but was kicked out of the family home, and then disappeared. Where’s downtown come into play here?

[Victoria Watcher]

The article says the mother lives in Sooke, and Albert also lived in Sooke, but was kicked out of the family home, and then disappeared. Where’s downtown come into play here?

 

I read it a few times.  He lived in Victoria (housed or not, it's unclear) perhaps and asked if he could live with parents in Sooke, and they refused, leading to the argument.   The article never suggested he was living with them.

 

But it's unclear when "he became homeless".  I presume this was prior to the argument, and after he sold off his possessions.

 

 

 

Three years ago, his life changed. He quit his well-paying job, sold off his possessions and became homeless. Nobody knows why.

 

 

 

So that was some time ago.  Well before he had the argument and then disappeared.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 December 2022 - 07:04 AM.

[Mike K.]

Last seen near Whiffin Spit, though.

Is that where the family home is?

[Mike K.]

It’s a hard story to follow.

[Victoria Watcher]

Sounds pretty awful for the family.

 

When a missing person report/file is accepted, it usually lets police see banking or entitlement payments (welfare) and be examined by police.  If that does not lead them to the person, it's not a very good sign they are existing out on their own somewhere. 

 

 

 

 

Three years ago, his life changed. He quit his well-paying job, sold off his possessions and became homeless. Nobody knows why.

 

 

 

 

 

The "nobody knows why" part is a bit difficult to understand.   He never gave a reason?  Sometimes drug/addiction abuse leads to this life situation.

 

I certainly know more than one local person who is homeless and very deep in the cycle of addiction, but was formerly well-functioning.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 December 2022 - 07:10 AM.

[Mike K.]

Hold on, did he move to Sooke with his family, or with his parents? I understand “his family” to mean wife and kids, at the age of 28.

[Victoria Watcher]

No indication he has any wife/partner or kids.

 

 

 

Albert, 28, moved from Ontario to Sooke around 2006 with his family. He obtained his general electrician’s licence and worked for a local company.

 

 

 

He moved to Sooke with his parents when he was 12 or so.

 

This is why I read the article twice, to understand timelines.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 December 2022 - 07:22 AM.

[Mike K.]

Oh yeah, ok.

I guess I would have written it “…Albert, now 28, moved with his family to Sooke in 2006 at the age of 12.”

I completely missed the 2006, or my brain rather went to wire and kids after first seeing 28.

[Victoria Watcher]

Most 28-year-olds are unmarried.

 

30.7 is the mean age for marriage.

 

https://www150.statc...?pid=3910005201

 

In 1970 it was 23.6!

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 December 2022 - 07:38 AM.

[lanforod]

Most 28-year-olds are unmarried.

 

30.7 is the mean age for marriage.

 

https://www150.statc...?pid=3910005201

 

In 1970 it was 23.6!

 

A lot of people just don't get married anymore. It's irrelevant to the story anyways. If he had a partner and/or kids is what you're asking, not so much a 'wife'.

[pontcanna]

[pontcanna]

Sooke RCMP assumes investigation into missing person Melissa McDevitt

2022-12-12 - File #2022-5189

The Sooke RCMP have assumed conduct of the investigation for missing person, Melissa McDevitt, from the Victoria Police Department.

VicPD’s initial investigation led to the discovery of McDevitt’s vehicle in Sooke at the Charters River / Hatchery parking lot on Sooke River Road on December 10, 2022.

A ground search was initiated immediately, led by Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue and supplemented by the Sooke RCMP, RCMP Air Services and Police Dog Services.

On December 11, 2022, surveillance video was located that captured McDevitt as she entered the trails from the parking lot. McDevitt was wearing a burgundy coloured long sleeved top, blue pants, and carrying two hiking poles.

 

 

Search and Rescue efforts continue today.

Melissa McDevitt is 38 years old and described as neuro-divergent and may initially appear to show signs of cognitive delay. McDevitt is five feet tall, slim, weighing 105 pounds. She has alopecia but may be wearing a wig or have short, dyed, rainbow coloured hair.

Anyone in the Charters River / Sooke Potholes area who saw McDevitt through the weekend is asked to please call their local police.

Released by

Cpl. Alex Bérubé
District Advisory NCO (Media Relations)
Island District

Video: https://www.youtube....h?v=aDzV10egWII