An unusually large number of people went missing in our area this year, although there didn’t appear to be any common factors between them. Some had happy endings, others tragic. None, at least, went unresolved. This is a chronological list.
• Jade Giesen, 47, was last seen April 6 walking on the Burlington Northern rail bed toward Troup Beach. Five days later, search and rescue volunteers located her body between Svoboda Road and the beach. Foul play wasn’t suspected.
• Elena Popoff, 64, of Slocan Park was last seen in the Trail area on April 15. RCMP said she had some appointments there but never returned home. Her body was found three days later in a shallow shore area of the Columbia River about one kilometer from the airport. A vehicle was located nearby. Foul play was ruled out.
• Tyler Sherriff, 28, was reported missing April 16. He was last seen at the Playmor Junction, hitchhiking to Nelson. Police found him a couple of days later.
• Andrea (Andromeda) Moore, 36, was reported missing by her husband on May 22 after her vehicle was found abandoned on Perry Ridge Road in the Slocan Valley. She was located the next day about four kilometers away, disoriented but unharmed.
• Granite Road resident Daniel Sookero, 53, was reported missing on May 20. He was located the following afternoon after experiencing vehicle troubles on a logging road. Sookero walked out after spending the night in his vehicle and called for a ride.
• Michael Mucha, 21, went missing early June 17 from his home in the 800 block of Highway 3A on the North Shore. Search and rescue searched the mountainside behind his home without luck. His body was found the next day in a wooded area near the north end of the orange bridge. Foul play was not suspected.
• Jonathan Hartman, 14, of Harrop left home on July 6 after an argument and didn’t return. He was safely located three days later.
• The body of Dana Nicholas Mitchell of Cranbrook was discovered on July 23 by a tourist off the Burlington Northern trail near the Svoboda Road entrance. He was 22 when he was last seen in the fall of 2010 and is believed to have died at that time. Foul play was ruled out.
• Paul Tayes, 56, of Surrey checked into the Kokanee Creek campground on September 2 for one night and was reported missing by park staff two days later after he failed to return to his truck. The search was aided by dozens of search and rescue personnel who were in the area for a previously-scheduled training exercise. However, it was a local kayaker who discovered his body in Kootenay Lake near Crescent Bay. There was no indication of foul play.
• Edward Perello, 47, of Ymir was reported missing December 9 after he didn’t return home from a day of skiing at or near Whitewater. He was found in good condition two days later following a massive search. RCMP said he was located thanks to someone who provided the general area he was headed, otherwise “he may not have been located in time or at all.”