Answers to missing Vernon teenager investigation may be found in farm property search

RCMP are trying to determine if DNA tests will link a missing woman case to the intense search of a farm property in the north Okanagan.

The mother of Traci Genereaux says she has provided a DNA sample to investigators working on her daughter’s case.

Genereaux was last seen in Vernon in May.

“Until I have a body, I want to hang on to some hope,” Laurie Nixon told Global News.

She says police have no information on Genereaux’s whereabouts.

“They’re not getting any new leads,” Nixon said. “The trail went cold long ago.”

Nixon said her daughter was a kind and thoughtful person, but became addicted to heroin at a young age and began selling sexual services to feed her habit.

She said getting the 18-year-old off drugs was almost impossible.

“I don’t know how many times in the last six months before she went missing she looked me right in the eyes and begged me to force her,” said Nixon. “But I can’t.”

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READ MORE:  RCMP expand search after human remains found on rural north Okanagan property

Nixon said children of any age can’t be forced into rehab programs, despite her many attempts to get her daughter help.

Prior to police beginning the search of the Salmon River Road farm on October 18th, they warned sex trade workers to ensure their safety in the area.

Days later, Curtis Wayne Sagmoen was arrested and charged with threatening a prostitute with a gun in an alleged incident in late August.

Sagmoen is resident of the search property.

On the day Genereaux went missing from Vernon, Sagmoen was pulled over by RCMP in the city and issued traffic tickets for headlight and taillight infractions.

He is currently in jail on the prostitute charges.

Nixon says she’s heard stories from people on the street that sex trade workers are not safe.

“I know there’s a lot of problems with the sex trade right now, where they’re kidnapping girls in Traci’s position, getting them doped up, stuffing them in barrels and putting them on semi trucks and shipping them to major cities where they lock them in houses.”

The Vernon woman has been reluctant to watch news of the unfolding investigation on Salmon River Road, about a half hour drive from Vernon.

“I’ve been trying not to look too hard at it,” Nixon said. “I don’t want Traci to be involved in that.”

Police say they have recovered human remains from the Sagmoen property.

The mounting stress and worry have taken its toll on Nixon, who was fired from her job last Saturday because she has been distracted.

Now with more time on her hands to think about her daughter, she is blaming herself and said parents should do whatever it takes to rescue their children from addiction and the streets.

“Help them. Take the risk. I should have just taken the risk and gone to jail for kidnapping my own kid because it might have been worth it.”

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The search for more evidence continues.