With the help of a 4×4 off roading group called 4LOW BC, the family of Marshal Iwaasa was able to get to a remote and mountainous area near Pemberton B.C., where his burned out vehicle was found in late November.
Marshal Iwaasa, 27, was last seen by his family in Lethbridge on Nov. 17, 2019. He told his family he was returning to Calgary but hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
A week later, his torched and abandoned vehicle was discovered.
The wheeling group says they’re glad to have been of service to the family.
“It started off with one of our admins in the group, Jason, he had talked to the family and set everything up for us and then we just met up with the family and took them up there,” said Bill Krenkowitz, one of the Creators of 4LOW BC.
The drivers, who are also mechanics, say they were surprised to see material around the truck that didn’t appear to belong.
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“They (Iwaasa’s family) said that he wouldn’t have had those types of materials in his truck,” said Elizabeth Krenkowitz, another creator of 4LOW BC.
Krenkowitz said the family was very organized and had maps laid out of where the truck site was. She says it did take them a bit longer to find the trail than they had first anticipated.
Alexei Berteig, a filmmaker from B.C. was asked to tag along with the group and record the events of the day. Last week he posted a short documentary of the trip on his Youtube channel called Spiritual 4×4.
The video and other pictures from the trip were shared on the Find Marshal Iwaasa Facebook page.
Both Berteig and the 4LOW BC team said it was the first time they met the family.
“To me video is something that can be done of service to a community,” Berteig said.
“Even before going I knew I wanted to do something that would help the family in some way, you know spread the word, raise awareness,” he added.
Paige Fogen, Iwaasa’s sister says the family is very thankful to have had 4LOW BC and Berteig help them navigate their way to the truck site during their trip.
“This is something that I don’t think a lot of families get the opportunity to share, not only the crappy side of everything that’s been happening, but also the good side of people coming out to help us and everyone’s hearts that are in it,” said Fogen.
She says Berteig even ran the finished version of the video by the family first, and asked them is they were okay with the content and whether they wanted to change anything.
“It really shows the terrain to get there, what it’s like out there in a whole different perspective,” Fogen said.
Berteig believes whoever drove the vehicle to the spot would have been familiar with the site and also comfortable with the bumpy, back road driving.
“It was driven there quite deliberately, that’s how it appeared,” Berteig said.
“You know that was the very end of that trail,” he said.
“There was literally no further that you could go in that vehicle, so, someone took it out there to the absolute end of the path… set it on fire,” Berteig said.
“That’s why in the video I think someone comments, ‘This looks like someone covering something up,'” he went on to say.
Berteig says after meeting the family, the idea that Iwaasa may have come out to the area to do self-harm didn’t clash with how loving and supportive his family seems.
He added that he admires the strength, intelligence and leadership shown by Iwaasa’s mother, sister and cousins on the trip, through their planning and communication.
The family continues to ask Lethbridge police to classify Iwaasa’s disappearance as a criminal case, however investigators say they have not found enough “corroborated” evidence yet to do so.
The private investigative team hired by the family also continues to look into the case.
The family is awaiting to see the results of a fire inspection report of Iwaasa’s truck, which had been conducted a few weeks ago by both the PI team and Lethbridge police.
Police are asking anyone with any additional information about Iwaasa’s disappearance to contact them, saying it will be investigated.
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