Editor’s note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly represented evidence gathered at the scene. It has been updated to reflect that no usable fingerprints were developed from the evidence. Global News regrets the error.
An exhaustive ground search continues near Pemberton, B.C. for a missing southern Alberta man.
Marshal Iwaasa’s torched truck was found in the remote area last November and there has been no sign of him since.
Lethbridge police, B.C. RCMP and a private investigative team hired by Iwaasa’s family are still searching the area the truck was found. Lethbridge police have said there is no evidence to show anyone other than Iwaasa was present when the vehicle was burned.
Fogen said she’s been receiving updates from the P.I. team, adding she’s given the investigators the treads from Iwassa’s shoes to help with the search efforts.
The family hired the team and has been compensating their efforts with money from a GoFundMe page, along with a money raised by Lethbridge Hyundai.
Fogen said the family appreciates the resources police have pooled together for this search and also offered her thoughts on the most recent information released by Lethbridge police, which stated Iwaasa had become withdrawn and was experiencing stress before his disappearance.
“It seemed to release a lot of information that was very specific and painted a picture as though they had one theory in mind and that for me was a little bit concerning,” Fogen said.
She said the family will keep pushing for the case, which she calls suspicious, to be recognized as criminal by police.Lethbridge police say fingerprinting has been conducted with no usable prints developed from the processed evidence. All evidence is being retained for potential DNA testing, but cannot be tested by the RCMP crime lab unless officers have reasonable grounds to believe a DNA-designated criminal offence has been committed. At this time, investigators say no such evidence or grounds exist.
The family is keeping an open mind about what could have happened, but are still holding on to their convictions about what could have transpired given the circumstances of the case.
“We’re not naive and we’re not thinking this is all going to be roses and fairy tales,” Fogen said.
“We know there’s a chance this could have been self harm, we know there’s a chance someone could have harmed my brother… we know there’s a chance, you know, that there’s a scenario we haven’t even thought of that’s playing out right now.”
Fogen said family and friends will be doing their own search of the remote area near Pemberon once police are finished.
She doesn’t know the logistics of their search yet, but said it wouldn’t be easy as the family has never been there and has no connections to the area.
There are still no answers as to why and how Iwaasa’s truck ended up in a remote and mountainous area 12 hours away from where he was last seen, an area the family says he has never visited before either.
Comments