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FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2014
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A decade of waiting for Roy New West police renew search for young man who disappeared 10 years ago BY CAYLEY DOBIE REPORTER cdobie@royalcityrecord.com
Roy Henderson has been missing for 10 years, and for 10 years Tanya Meadus has been anxiously waiting to hear what happened to her beloved younger stepbrother. “It’s crazy. You just think and hope that he’s going to call,” Meadus said, her voice cracking. “It’s just so strange, I just can’t even … I mean it’s still so hard even after this long.” Meadus met Henderson when she was 12 years old, when their parents began dating. Henderson’s mother had died a couple of years earlier, and shortly after, his dad met Meadus’ mother and the two were eventually married. The two families then became one, and Meadus and her mother moved to Port Coquitlam to live with Henderson and his father. “In school he was an honour roll student with straight As. He played soccer. He wasn’t very popular but … we were just kids. Back then (school) wasn’t so much about what it is nowadays. … Growing up, we were very close. We went to the same high school. We were two
years apart. He had lots of friends. “We did everything together. We would build forts together, we would go hunting in the bush together,” she said. Henderson attended Kilmer Elementary, Mary Hill Junior High School, and Terry Fox Secondary School. The two siblings were close and spent a lot of time together as children and teenagers. After graduation, Meadus said her brother had a couple of jobs, mostly notably as a cook at the Cat and Fiddle Pub and Earls, both in Port Coquitlam. As her brother got older, Meadus noticed some changes in his behaviour. She believes he may have become schizophrenic but doesn’t believe Henderson’s doctor ever diagnosed him or prescribed any medication. “I saw the signs and everything of it and after an altercation that happened at home, he went to go live with his grandfather in New Westminster. “He got into some drugs and stuff like that. Nothing crazy, like with gangs or anything,” Meadus said. “He was just a good guy. He wouldn’t hurt anybody.” Meadus told The Record that her son, who was about nine years old when his uncle went missing, still asks about Henderson, and like her, he is left wondering what happened to his uncle. “Regardless of what he was into, he’s still my brother and it’s just hard because
Contributed photo/THE RECORD
In happier times: Roy Henderson went missing in 2004. Pictured here at his 25th birthday party, Henderson’s sister says he was a kind and caring brother who wouldn’t hurt anyone. … after all this time you still hope,” she said. While Meadus still holds out some hope her brother will return one day, after this much time she believes it’s unlikely, but she still wants closure. She has spent the last 10 years searching for her brother,
putting up flyers, participating in searches in the Downtown Eastside, even posting to Facebook, looking for any clue into her brother’s disappearance. ◗Missing Page 3
Trustees pass ‘watered down’ motion on cuts BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
A local school trustee wants the public to know what programs the school district is considering cutting next year to deal with budget troubles, but her attempt to get the information out before a series of budget
consultations didn’t get the support of the school board. Trustee MaryAnn Mortensen made a motion at Tuesday’s meeting calling for the district to have staff bring forward a list of potential adjustments to programs, staffing, departments, services and supplies before the district consults with the public on the
budget. “We’ve been asking for this for awhile,” Mortensen told The Record. “We need to provide them (the public) with as much information as possible.” Trustees debated Mortensen’s motion for over an hour, hammering out a series of changes that meant the information would
not be made public at the first of the series of budget meetings (the initial one was held on Jan. 29 in Queensborough). The board voted to have staff compile the information and provide it to trustees in a closed meeting on Feb. 4. “The hope is that information stemming ◗Trustee Page 9
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