Nearly seven months after their daughter’s disappearance near Sooke, parents Tom and Maggie McDevitt are reporting a “monumental shift” in efforts to find her, including confirmation of her recent hiking routes.
Avid hiker Melissa McDevitt, 38, last spoke with family on Dec. 8. She was supposed to travel from Victoria to Vancouver on Dec. 10, but never arrived. Her vehicle, a grey 2015 Subaru Forester, was found that same day near Sooke Potholes Provincial Park.
Tom and Maggie moved from North Carolina to Vancouver Island in May to continue searching for McDevitt with a growing community of residents — skilled hikers in the Greater Victoria area — who regularly scour the trails to find their daughter. Their collaboration has now led to a breakthrough, Tom said.
“The process led to a lot of brainstorming. Because of my knowledge of Melissa’s email logins for different accounts … we were able to get into her Garmin-based website,” he explained.
“That’s when we determined that there was information up to six months ago.”
Tom said the searchers had been analyzing McDevitt’s Facebook page and noticed that she recorded all of her hiking routes using a Garmin watch she sported in recently posted photos. He knew Melissa had been talking about getting a new watch and shared that with the community.
“They researched out all the competitors of Garmin, which there were about a dozen, and they started going to all their websites and trying her login information that she was with Garmin and her password that I provided. Seven or eight didn’t work, and then, like the ninth one worked,” he explained.
“Got in, went in and it was — my terminology — a treasure trove of information. If (search and rescue) had had that information on Dec. 9 and 10, I truly believe they would have found her,” Tom said.
The family, community and police are now equipped with detailed GPS tracking information on all the runs and hikes recorded on her new watch, including the routes she took in the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday leading up to her disappearance on Dec. 9.
“There’s no more speculating,” Tom said.
McDevitt’s watch revealed that she went to the same parking area of the Sooke River Jack Brooks Hatchery near the Grass Lake trail repeatedly that week. She had also been spotted on hatchery security cameras entering trails wearing a burgundy top and pants, carrying two hiking poles around 4 p.m. on Dec. 8.
Tom said she walked into the Grass Lake trail and did two or three short trails while inside. The watch data showed that she hiked for half an hour, turned around and came back out the way she came.
The RCMP and family were able to then review the Dec. 8 security tape and spot her — in the dark — leaving the area at around 5:01 or 5:02, consistent with her watch data. Tom said he believes McDevitt was on a “probing” mission, checking out the area before committing to a four or five-hour hike, as she often did.
According to the watch, Tom said McDevitt went back to the trail on Dec. 9 at 1:50 p.m. and was recorded near the Larkspur hills. Tom said that terrain can be slippery and tricky, and is home to several cougar caves.
“We don’t discount that there could have been a cougar encounter,” he said. “But depending whether she had her pole strapped around her wrist, if she did not, the pole, if she was attacked, would be near the trail.”
Her parents, and the community searching for her, continue to walk the area’s trails three days a week and canvass local residents for information, such as what old wells, roads and houses were once in the region before it became part of the park system. They’re leaving “no stone unturned” in the search, Tom said.
“I couldn’t commend them more for their commitment,” he said of the searchers.
McDevitt, while an experienced hiker, is described as a “high-risk” missing person, because she is neurodivergent and has some mobility challenges.
Her mother, Maggie, said she is a “very kind” woman with “an engaging, sweet smile” who became deeply enthusiastic and passionate about things that caught her attention. She collected plants, rocks, insects and other items picked up from her outdoor adventures.
“I feel that she is in a place that she really enjoyed being. She made a point of being there, she researched it in its entirety,” Maggie said.
“I want to rise up as Melissa did in her life. She always rose up above the situation and would not allow herself to be sunk by words, by unkindness.”
Maggie said the “joy” has not returned to their lives since McDevitt’s disappearance and the entire family is “struggling.”
In an emailed statement, Sooke RCMP said McDevitt’s case is active and police are in close contact with the family, as well as search and rescue teams. McDevitt is described as five feet tall with a slim build and “children’s-sized” feet, weighing 105 pounds.
She has alopecia and may be wearing a wig, or have short dyed, rainbow-coloured hair, police said. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call 250-995-7654, extension 1. Anyone who sees her is asked to stay with her and call 911.