Keeping the search alive one year after Owen Rooney's disappearance
By Mona Mattei
For the parents, and siblings of Australian Owen Rooney, every day is a painful reminder that he is still missing one year after his mysterious disappearance from Grand Forks, B.C. “It’s always there – it never really feels normal. A huge part of you is missing and you don’t know where he is or if he’s safe or if he’s not or what happened,” Rooney’s sister Kelly said. “It’s always on your mind in everything that you do – it’s pretty tough.” 24-year-old Rooney was last seen at the Boundary Hospital in Grand Forks on Aug. 14, 2010 where he was treated for a head injury sustained in a fight in Christina Lake. Rooney was en-route home to Kelowna after a weekend at the Shambala Music Festival near Salmo, B.C. when he stopped at Christina Lake. Later, police picked him up, noting that he had a possible head injury, but dropped him off at the bus station according to his request. Rooney changed his mind and did go to the hospital for treatment, but then went missing from the hospital a short time later leaving behind his belongings. Since then his family has devoted their time, energy and life savings in trying to locate Owen or determine where he may have headed. He was last seen at the Grand Forks hospital on that day he vanished. Owen’s parents have now returned to Australia, leaving his two sisters – Kelly and Bree – in Canada to work with the RCMP in actively continuing the search. “We’re just making sure that we’ve done everything that we can before we head home,”said Owen’s sister Kelly. “We’re still working with the police – still following through with different things. You are always looking all the time and it takes a lot of your energy to be on the look-out. He could just be around the corner or just be hitchhiking. It’s hard. We still believe he’s out there somewhere.” On this week’s anniversary of his disappearance, Owen’s family, along with the RCMP, are asking once again for the public’s help, particularly those who attended last year’s Shambala event, in garnering new tips and leads to locating Owen or where he may have gone. “We attended Shambala last week and took business cards that we had made up with his picture and the website and images of his tattoos on them and handed them out,” explained Kelly. “We just made sure people who were at the festival were aware of it and talking about it and continuing to spread the word.” RCMP have recently received Rooney’s phone records and are looking for clues as to his location. The team is conducting some door-to-door investigations asking people at Christina Lake and near the hospital once again if they have any information. “We’ve done a lot of reviewing on the file, and checking on things and the answer is simply that we’re no farther ahead than when we started,” commented Staff Sargeant Jim Harrison with the Grand Forks RCMP. “It’s just one of those frustrating things that nothing has panned out as far as any of the leads or tips that we’ve investigated. The RCMP and Rooney family continue to work together and share the goal of finding Owen. In the first few months there was a flood of tips coming to the investigators, but at this point the leads are drying up, Harrison added. RCMP continues to work with the Grand Forks Search and Rescue team who Harrison said has been extremely helpful, including a recent search in an area of wilderness previously not covered.
Anyone with information regarding Owen’s whereabouts or any details on his disappearance, however insignificant the information may be, are asked to contact the Grand Forks RCMP at 250-442-8288, their local police service, Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or through the website that the family have set up – www.find-owen.com or Facebook Help Find Owen Rooney.
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