They camped in the same spot several times over the past two years — near Island Lake campground, about 250 km south of Calgary in the Crowsnest Pass.
On the weekend of Sept. 21 there were 10 children in the group, including six-year-old Darius MacDougall, his father, his father’s girlfriend, and Darius’ grandparents.
“Darius and the other children knew their way around, like it’s not something unusual for them. Didn’t think nothing about it,” said Tina Herron, Darius’ grandmother.
“We just finished having multiple birthdays ’cause we had three birthdays for the weekend. We were cleaning up, getting everything packed up. The children were asked to go clean up toys, garbage, whatever’s laying around, just tidy up,” said Herron.
“As they were doing that, Darius and two of the other children went across the water to play.”
But when two of the children returned about 20 minutes later, Darius was not with them. The other children said he was missing.
His family began a frantic search.
“Scared, right? You say take off running out there, calling for ’em, nothing, nothing. Scary feeling,” said Leslie Tallmadge, Darius’ step-grandfather.
So they called the RCMP.
“They were here probably within half an hour, 45 minutes,” said Herron. “They set up on the road and yeah, just big swarms of people. We had probably 30 family friends and people down here with us looking. There was a big crowd of people looking for him.”
It was a massive search effort, involving more than 400 volunteer search and rescue members from Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan along with 60 members of the RCMP using dogs, all terrain vehicles, drones and helicopters.
They spent more 11,000 hours, covered nearly 22 square kilometres and travelled more than 5,300 km of densely forested and steep alpine terrain looking for the missing boy.
But after 11 days and no sign of the missing boy, on Oct. 1, the official search was called off.
“There has not been a single trace of him anywhere,” said Tallmadge.
Almost seven weeks later, Tallmadge is still staying at the same campsite where his grandson disappeared — a vigil of sorts — holding out hope that somehow Darius will be found by one of the many volunteers that still regularly come here to help look for the missing boy.
“This is this is the last place I seen him. I can’t leave,” said Tallmadge. “I don’t know where else to look. Chances are he might not be here but I can’t leave.”
On Monday, he was joined by Darius’ grandmother, his father and his girlfriend.
While Darius’ father declined an interview, his grandmother described him as “an awesome little boy. A happy-golucky little guy. Full of life. Joyful. Always happy. Very rambunctious.”
But the search for Darius was also more challenging because he’s autistic and there were concerns he might not react well or might not answer to searchers calling out his name, forcing them to use different tactics, like playing his favourite song, in an attempt to draw him out of the wilderness.
When contacted by Global News for an update on their investigation and whether there’s any evidence someone may have taken Darius, the RCMP responded with a statement that says, “No credible information has been received to date that suggests Darius MacDougall was the victim of an abduction.”
His family members, though, aren’t so certain.
“He just vanished into the air. Somebody had to been watching him to take him,” said Herron.
She believes an Amber Alert should’ve been issued and doesn’t agree with the RCMP’s explanation why it wasn’t.
“Until they can actually prove that he was physically taken or there was a vehicle or something (or) he’s in harm’s way, they can’t, they won’t put out an Amber Alert,” said Herron.
The boy’s family and friends are now lobbying to have the criteria changed for when an Amber Alert can be issued to include anytime a child goes missing close to a highway, the international border or a park — all three criteria in Darius’ disappearance.
But that didn’t happen, so for now, all they have is hope that somehow, Darius will be found.
“Hang tough, buddy. We’re all looking for you. We’re searching for you. Stay strong,” said Tallmadge. “Hopefully one day you can come home. Can’t lose hope.
“This is the last place I seen him. So I’ll sit here and wait until I know where else to look.”