For the family of Deanna Wertz, there’s disappointment that the search of a farm on Salmon River Road near Salmon Arm has wrapped up without revealing any new information about the woman who was reported missing on July 22, 2016.
But they still want to hold on to some hope that she’s still alive.
Coverage of the search of a Salmon River Road farm on Globalnews.ca:
The RCMP have ended the search of a property they were looking into for three weeks, turning it back over to its owners on Thursday.
The search came after five women went missing from the area over the past 20 months.
The remains of one of those women, 18-year-old Traci Genereaux, were found on the property.
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But the search didn’t yield a break in the case of 46-year-old Wertz, who was reported missing last year.
“It’s disappointing,” her sister Alanna told Global News.
“But of course, I think our family was hoping for something, some sort of closure from that case.”
‘I have to trust that the RCMP did the best they could’
Wertz, who Alanna described as a “very private person,” lived on Yankee Flats Road a short distance from the Salmon River Road property.
She was last seen at her home. On the morning that she went missing, Wertz had made contact with her family and said she was going for a hike, “right off of her backyard,” Alanna said.
Wertz’s dog, which regularly accompanied her on hikes, was later found down the road. A neighbour tried to return the dog but couldn’t find her.
The lack of information about Wertz’s disappearance stemming out of the search on Salmon River Road has Alanna wondering what can be done next.
“I have to trust that the RCMP did the best they could,” she said.
Alanna wants to believe that Wertz is still alive, “but in the same sense it’s been a year and a half, that hope’s kind of fading.”
READ MORE: Police wrap up search of Okanagan farm where human remains were found
RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said the investigation into the Salmon River Road property is still ongoing, even if police don’t have resources on the farm anymore.
They’re still looking for tips to help inform their investigation into Genereaux’s death.
He urged anyone to contact the RCMP if they had information about her that would help establish a timeline leading up to May 29, when she was last seen in Vernon’s Red Light District.
Asked whether human remains belonging to more than one person were found on the property, Moskaluk said RCMP have only confirmed that Genereaux’s remains were discovered there.
The Salmon River Road property belongs to the Sagmoen family.
Curtis Sagmoen, 37, has been charged in connection with a separate case from August, for allegedly threatened a sex trade worker with a gun.
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