FREDERICTON – The last thing he wrote his mom was “Have a good night, love you.”
Since that night a week ago, Mitchell Veenhuis hasn’t been seen or heard from. Stacey Heagney calls it a nightmare.
“At approximately dusk, just before it was turning dark, he got up and said ‘I’ll be back in half an hour,’ to his roommate and that was it,” she said. “Nothing since. No phone activity, no bank activity.”
That was on Oct. 14. He had come home from the Sobeys in Oromocto, where he worked as an assistant manager of a department.
Then he left his Route 690 home, near Ripples and Lakeville Corner, in his blue Ford Fusion.
He didn’t show up for work the next day, Oct. 15.
“Mitchell is an extremely smart boy. Very smart. He has a good job, very soft-hearted. He loved people, kids, animals. He had great friends, lot of family support. It’s just totally out of character,” she said.
The family has already suffered a loss this year. Mitchell’s sister was killed in a car accident in May.
They’re all very close, and Mitchell usually speaks to his mom and brother every day. He was supposed to move out of his home last week and had promised to meet his family on Friday to help with the move.
He had been planning on going back to school to study science. All aspects that have left his family wondering what could have possibly happened.
“What makes this case different is that we don’t, at this point, we don’t know why he’s missing,” said Cpl. Brian Villers of the Minto RCMP. “We’re still looking for his vehicle and for him and any tips that may lead to either his vehicle or him being located.”
His Ford Fusion has a bright red, Jim Gilbert car dealership plate on the front.
RCMP have searched from the air and on land while family and friends have done an extensive ground search in the Minto area.
Now, they’re begging anyone with information to come forward.
“We got to find him. Anything that anybody can do, whether it’s on foot, car, four-wheeler, boat – do what you can to find this boy,” said his brother, Matthew Veenhuis.
Mitchell is about 6’2, 160 lbs, with short, light brown hair and blue eyes. Veenhuis is believed to have been driving a blue 2012 Ford Fusion with New Brunswick license plate JEK814.
The family has planned a vigil on Friday evening at the Sir Douglas Hazen Park in Oromocto.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Minto RCMP at 506-327-1820 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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