Volume 17 Issue 1

VOLUME 17 ISSUE 01

JANUARY 25, 2019 — FEBRUARY 22, 2019

YOURS FREE TO TAKE HOME

SUNPEAKSNEWS.COM // @SUNPEAKSNEWS

A year without answers RCMP, friends, and family still searching for answers in disappearance of Ryan Shtuka JEAN STRONG

LAST YEAR, 20-YEAR-OLD RYAN SHTUKA GOT OFF WORK FROM THE LIFT DEPARTMENT AT SUN PEAKS RESORT AT 7 P.M ON FEB. 16 AND HEADED HOME TO GET READY FOR A NIGHT OUT WITH FRIENDS. AFTER SHOWERING AND GETTING DRESSED THEY GOT A RIDE INTO SUN PEAKS’ VILLAGE. After a drink at Masa’s Bar + Grill, the group went to Bottoms, a popular local bar, for a silent disco night. Each person received a pair of headphones and chose which DJ to tune in to, switching back and forth as they battled for the crowd’s attention. One of Ryan’s housemates, 31-yearold Chris Feeney, in B.C. on a working holiday visa from Australia, said the night went by in a flash. “It felt like two Backstreet Boys songs and the night was over,” he said. “None of us were ready to go home and we heard about a house party that may be going.” Tagging along with a group they left for the party on Burfield Dr. where they stayed until around 1:30 a.m. “Most of the people there were regulars (or) lifties that I knew,” he said. “It was really a pretty mellow gathering rather than a party.” Feeney, his girlfriend Kristen Lacko, and a friend were talking together and decided to head home, a short walk from the party on a road and trail they used often. That night nearly 20 centimetres of snow fell and temperatures plummeted. It was the last time Feeney, or anyone else, would see Ryan.

massive search effort, little more is known for certain than in the first hours of the investigation. One such tip came from

According to Feeney, the next day it wasn’t immediately apparent something was wrong, as he headed to work without realizing Ryan hadn’t come home. After being alerted Ryan hadn’t shown up for work, his friends

thought maybe he had gone home with a girl or crashed on a couch. It wasn’t until after Ryan completely missed his shift and didn’t show up at home that they posted on a local Facebook group asking if anyone had seen their friend. By 9 p.m. they decided to call the hospital which advised them to call police, who arrived around midnight. “By 1 a.m. we were all very scared,” he said. “(We) felt so helpless sitting in the house, none of us really slept that night knowing the next day was going to be a full search day with search and rescue, police, volunteers, helicopters and dogs.” Almost one year later the valley has been scoured by hundreds of volunteers from across the world, Ryan’s family and friends, professional

search and rescue groups, search dogs, cadaver dogs, Kamloops RCMP, the RCMP tactical team, a private investigator, psychics, a dive team, drones, helicopters and a plane. According to Cpl. Mike Mucha from the Kamloops Rural RCMP detachment, hundreds of hours have been spent on the search and investigation. After Ryan was reported missing two officers responded first, one of whom still works on the case. Mucha said more than 300 tips to RCMP and Crime Stoppers have been followed up. “I think we interviewed just about everybody in that community...We’ve taken that information from them and we’ve used it.” But despite those tips and the

Kamloops resident Jim Reid, who was staying at Sun Peaks the weekend Ryan disappeared. Reid, who was staying about a 20 minute walk from Burfield Drive, stated he woke in the early morning hours to a person yelling. “It very much sounded like ‘Get in the car. Get in the fucking car,’” said Reid, who reported in the incident to the police a few days later. RCMP followed up with him twice. Two other high profile tips, one involving a possible sighting on Fairways Drive around 2 a.m. and another involving an unknown man entering a home looking for party, also lead RCMP nowhere. Mucha said they have no information or theory on what

happened to Ryan. RCMP also have no information that indicates foul play and no persons of interest. He added nothing indicates Ryan was involved in criminal activity. “It’s perplexing,” he said. “There isn’t anything there to suggest foul play...We’re hoping somebody knows something (and) one day will come forward or something will come up.” Ryan’s mother, Heather Shtuka, hopes for the same. “The probability (that someone knows something) is high,” she said. “If someone knows something and they have the ability to say something they have to be afraid. Not to be ominous or mean, but they know any day the truth could come out. (At least) I don’t have to go through every day afraid anymore, my worst fears have already been realized, but they do and that’s a huge burden to bear. I hope that if someone knows something they come forward.” She last saw her son on Dec. 1, 2017, for a quick hug and kiss goodbye before he made the long drive from their home in Beaumont, Alta. to Sun Peaks. Ryan, she said, kept in regular contact, often texting her and calling his father, Scott Shtuka, to keep him company while he drove to work. “HetoldScott‘DadI’vebeenboarding 36 days straight,’” Heather said, adding he had just landed his first backflip. She believes Ryan was happy in Sun Peaks, and doesn’t regret encouraging him to go. “As someone who loves him I want to support him. Looking back now I