
Ryan Shtuka’s mother says she was glad to have been in Sun Peaks this past weekend as the RCMP returned to the area for another search.
Heather Shtuka tells NL News the family initially wasn’t planning on making the trip up from Alberta but they did so just in case something were to turn up from the first organized search for Ryan in three years.
“We were able to by Sunday go through the search patterns that they had done, learn a little bit more about the thought process, and then go to the actual areas that were searched and sort of been walked through what had been done for the last two days,” she said.
Ryan Shtuka was last leaving a house party on Burfield Drive in Sun Peaks on February 17, 2018. Several extensive searches by police, search-and-rescue crews, as well as the Shtuka family since that time have all been unsuccessful.
“We still are always collecting information. We don’t know what happened to Ryan and that’s part of what we’re trying to figure out,” Kamloops RCMP spokesperson, Const. Crystal Evelyn told NL News last week.
“The investigation has been ongoing and part of that investigation is to review things have have been collected and also have a look at any new information that’s coming in. In reviewing some of that information, there’s some areas that they would like to re-examine and some new areas they’d like to search as well.”
Heather Shtuka is asking people living or exploring the Sun Peaks area to keep an eye out for anything that could lead investigators to her son.
“We’ve reconciled, as difficult as that is, that we won’t find everything, if we were to find something at all,” she added.
“You need to go and say ‘okay, what will have stood the test of time?’ So the hat, the shoes, the car keys, the wallet, the cellphone, the jacket or the jeans…something along those lines that will help us look towards an area and say ,’okay, this is where Ryan was at some point.'”
“We’re not CSI investigators. We’re not asking people to go and say, ‘okay, this is evidence’ or anything along those lines, but the items that Ryan was wearing or had on him, if somebody comes across it, that gives us a good starting point.”
Anybody with information is urged to contact Kamloops RCMP at or Crime Stoppers.