RCMP: Weekly beat - Missing teen found
By Erin Perkins
A 17-year old Christina Lake boy has returned home safely after getting lost looking for the family cat, Dec. 4.
The Christina Lake Fire Department was called to a Fife Road residence by the boy’s parents after he didn’t return from searching a forested area close to the home looking for the family cat. He’d been gone since 3 p.m. that day and was dressed in only sneakers and a hoodie, said Ken Gresley-Jones, Christina Lake Fire Department Fire Chief.
Three volunteer firefighters started down the trails, while another took a snowmobile. The snowmobile ran into a log and the steering was broken, so more volunteers used the side-by-side all-terrain vehicle to cut out logs and get through a creek, said Gresley-Jones. Other volunteers were strategically placed on roads surrounding the forest in case the boy came out from a side other than the one he came in on. One volunteer followed the boy’s tracks in the snow which went down a main trail and then ventured off the trail and into the bush were they stopped and doubled back. When they found him, the boy had been missing for more than five hours and was almost six kilometres into the bush, said Gresley-Jones. The boy’s feet were frozen and it took the firefighter who found him 20 minutes to be able to get the boy’s shoes back on — the boy had taken them off to keep his feet warm with his own body heat — and then get him into a waiting ambulance. He was taken to the Boundary Hospital in Grand Forks. It is unknown what, or if, there were any long term injuries, said Gresley-Jones. “It worked out good but could have been worse,” said Gresley-Jones. The fire department volunteers “busted their butts and made me proud”, he said of the search efforts. “When you venture out at this time of the year you have to be prepared for the elements. “He was in a bad way when we found him and he very possibly could have died out there.” The cat was not found. Car damage and stolen property Some strange and unusual cases kept RCMP busy in Grand Forks over the past week. On Dec. 2 at 7:30 a.m. Grand Forks RCMP were called to a case of willful damage at the Grand Forks Canada Post parking lot where a blue 2012 Hyundai Elantra was “substantially keyed” said Grand Forks RCMP Staff Sergeant Jim Harrison. “We’re still investigating this case so if anyone has any information please call us,” he said, adding the cost to repair the damaged paint is yet unknown. On Dec. 4 a break and enter was reported to police at 9:23 a.m. The incident took place at a 14th Street residence some time between the time reported and 9 p.m. the previous evening. The suspect cut the wire on a security camera at the house and then cut the chain on a refridgerator door located outside of the home. There was nothing in the fridge, but the suspect took an adaptor cable from the security camera and the chain and paddlock from the fridge. “The suspect was obviously well equipped to break into the refridgerator,” said Harrison. A B.C. license plate was stolen from a vehicle parked on Lawrence Road in Grand Forks. The incident was reported to RCMP on Dec. 5 at 4 p.m. but could have happened anytime during the previous week. The suspect opened the gates to the property and removed the plates, likely so they could be used on another vehicle. “The suspect gets a free ride between the time they take the plate to the time it was reported,” said Harrison. “But once it is reported the plate is in our system and police can find it by running the plate numbers when they see it on the road.” If anyone has information about the open cases mentioned above, please contact the Grand Forks RCMP at 250-442-8288.
