The owner of the Nicola Ranch in Merritt is doubling the reward for any information that could help solve the disappearance of missing cowboy Ben Tyner.

The $15,000 from John Liu takes the reward to $30,000 with the rest of the money coming from Tyner’s family for information that could also lead to charges in his suspected death.

“We are extremely grateful to John for matching our funds,” Ben’s mother, Jen Tyner said on facebook. “We are still in weekly contact with RCMP and feel that real progress is being made.”

Ben Tyner, the manager of the Nicola Ranch, was last seen more than two years ago on Jan. 26, 2019. He was reported missing two days later when his rider-less horse was found on a logging road off of Highway 97C, near Winnie Flats. The 33-year-old had moved to Merritt from Wyoming a couple of months before he went missing.

The RCMP’s Southeast District Major Crime Unit has been involved in the investigation since its early days, but it wasn’t until nearly two months after Tyner went missing that police confirmed his disappearance as suspicious.

His body has not been found, but on Jan. 26, 2021, police for the first time said outright that Tyner was likely killed.

“Numerous investigation avenues have been explored, and in order to protect the ongoing investigation police are unable to share those findings publicly at this time,” RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said at that time.

Anyone with information related to the Tyner investigation is asked to call the Southeast District Major Crime Unit at 1-877-987-8477, or to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.