Family, RCMP still searching for 29-year-old
Shawnee Inyallie's family and the RCMP continue to look for clues more than a month after the 29-year-old went missing from Hope, B.C., about 150 km east of Vancouver.
"The family has been going through so much tragedy this last month and it's been really hard," Inyallie's aunt, Linda Peters, told CBC.
The family is also offering a reward of $1,000 to anyone who can provide information that leads to finding her, thanks to a donation from author Terese Mailhot of nearby Seabird Island.
Inyallie is a member of the Chawathil First Nation and frequently returned to her community on the banks of the Fraser River. Her aunt said even though she is homeless, family would see her regularly in and around Hope.
"We always see her at least two or three times a week," said Peters.
"Everyone in town knows Shawnee because they'd see her every day. The store people know her, the RCMP know her, the other street people know her and nobody has seen her recently."
RCMP say file is very active
Peters said the family is especially concerned about Inyallie's well-being because she hasn't picked up her most recent cheques from Chawathil and her backpack was left behind at a homeless camp.
Inyallie's missing person's file is being handled by the general investigations section of the Hope RCMP.
"It's still active and we're still searching," said Cpl. Mike Rail on Wednesday.
On Sunday, nearly 40 family members and volunteers conducted a ground search, starting at 6 a.m. Peters said the group managed to cover roughly 40 km, following routes they know Inyallie would frequent.
With no clear leads, Peters said it's scary because they know Inyallie sometimes hitchhiked.
"Her main mode of traveling is walking and hitchhiking because, you know, she never really had any money to be taking a bus or anything like that," she said.
Peters said family members hope to organize another search soon and she asks people to keep an eye out for her niece.
She describes Inyallie as always smiling and really friendly with people, "but the main thing you'd notice is her two front teeth are missing," she said, explaining her niece lost her front teeth after a car accident a couple years ago.
Anyone with information about Inyallie's whereabouts is asked to call the Hope RCMP or Crime Stoppers.
