B.C. RCMP suspend renewed search efforts for missing cowboy

There are still more questions than answers after renewed search efforts for a missing B.C. cowboy were called off on Friday evening.

RCMP Sgt. Janelle Shoihet said Ben Tyner, who was living in Merritt, B.C., at the time of his disappearance on Jan. 28, is still unaccounted for.

“The search was conducted by the Southeast District MCU and the Merritt Detachment with support from Air Service, the Tactical Troop, ‎and the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team and Police Dog Service,” Shoihet said in an email on Sunday morning.

“The investigators still need to determine the next steps.”

The 32-year-old ranch manager was reported missing in January when his riderless horse was discovered on a logging road off Highway 97 near Winnie Flats.

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Officials launched a large-scale search effort in early February but it was suspended after crews combed the frigid Nicola Valley backcountry for seven days.

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Tyner, 32, was the manager at the Nicola Ranch, where he started working three months prior to his disappearance.

Earlier this year, the RCMP revealed the disappearance was being treated as suspicious in nature.

On Sunday, Shoihet declined to comment on why authorities believe the disappearance may involve criminality.

“I can’t go into any specifics with respect to how the determination was made that his disappearance is considered suspicious,” she said.

After his disappearance, Tyner’s parents and his younger brother Jack flew to Merritt from Wyoming to aid in the search efforts.

Tyner’s family also issued a tearful appeal to the public for tips to help break the case.

“Our hearts are shattered and our lives have been thrown into turmoil,” Tyner’s mother Jennifer told a news conference at the time.

“To think that I will never again see his smile, or hear his infectious laugh, never see him realize his dreams, never have him wrap his arms around me again, is unthinkable.”