‘Monumental shift’: New details in search for woman who never returned from B.C. hike – BC | 24CA News
Nearly seven months after their daughter’s disappearance close to Sooke, dad and mom Tom and Maggie McDevitt are reporting a “monumental shift” in efforts to search out her, together with affirmation of her latest mountain climbing routes.
Avid hiker Melissa McDevitt, 38, final spoke with household on Dec. 8. She was speculated to journey from Victoria to Vancouver on Dec. 10, however by no means arrived. Her automobile, a gray 2015 Subaru Forester, was discovered that very same day close to Sooke Potholes Provincial Park.
Tom and Maggie moved from North Carolina to Vancouver Island in May to proceed trying to find McDevitt with a rising neighborhood of residents — expert hikers within the Greater Victoria space — who recurrently scour the paths to search out their daughter. Their collaboration has now led to a breakthrough, Tom mentioned.
“The process led to a lot of brainstorming. Because of my knowledge of Melissa’s email logins for different accounts … we were able to get into her Garmin-based website,” he defined.
“That’s when we determined that there was information up to six months ago.”
Tom mentioned the searchers had been analyzing McDevitt’s Facebook web page and seen that she recorded all of her mountain climbing routes utilizing a Garmin watch she sported in lately posted images. He knew Melissa had been speaking about getting a brand new watch and shared that with the neighborhood.
“They researched out all the competitors of Garmin, which there were about a dozen, and they started going to all their websites and trying her login information that she was with Garmin and her password that I provided. Seven or eight didn’t work, and then, like the ninth one worked,” he defined.
“Got in, went in and it was — my terminology — a treasure trove of information. If (search and rescue) had had that information on Dec. 9 and 10, I truly believe they would have found her,” Tom mentioned.
The household, neighborhood and police are actually geared up with detailed GPS monitoring data on all of the runs and hikes recorded on her new watch, together with the routes she took within the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday main as much as her disappearance on Dec. 9.
“There’s no more speculating,” Tom mentioned.
McDevitt’s watch revealed that she went to the identical parking space of the Sooke River Jack Brooks Hatchery close to the Grass Lake path repeatedly that week. She had additionally been noticed on hatchery safety cameras coming into trails sporting a burgundy prime and pants, carrying two mountain climbing poles round 4 p.m. on Dec. 8.
Tom mentioned she walked into the Grass Lake path and did two or three quick trails whereas inside. The watch information confirmed that she hiked for half an hour, circled and got here again out the way in which she got here.
The RCMP and household have been in a position to then evaluate the Dec. 8 safety tape and spot her — at nighttime — leaving the realm at round 5:01 or 5:02, constant along with her watch information. Tom mentioned he believes McDevitt was on a “probing” mission, testing the realm earlier than committing to a 4 or five-hour hike, as she typically did.
According to the watch, Tom mentioned McDevitt went again to the path on Dec. 9 at 1:50 p.m. and was recorded close to the Larkspur hills. Tom mentioned that terrain could be slippery and tough, and is dwelling to a number of cougar caves.
“We don’t discount that there could have been a cougar encounter,” he mentioned. “But depending whether she had her pole strapped around her wrist, if she did not, the pole, if she was attacked, would be near the trail.”
Her dad and mom, and the neighborhood trying to find her, proceed to stroll the realm’s trails three days per week and canvass native residents for data, resembling what previous wells, roads and homes have been as soon as within the area earlier than it turned a part of the park system. They’re leaving “no stone unturned” within the search, Tom mentioned.
“I couldn’t commend them more for their commitment,” he mentioned of the searchers.
McDevitt, whereas an skilled hiker, is described as a “high-risk” lacking individual, as a result of she is neurodivergent and has some mobility challenges.
Her mom, Maggie, mentioned she is a “very kind” lady with “an engaging, sweet smile” who turned deeply enthusiastic and enthusiastic about issues that caught her consideration. She collected crops, rocks, bugs and different objects picked up from her out of doors adventures.
“I feel that she is in a place that she really enjoyed being. She made a point of being there, she researched it in its entirety,” Maggie mentioned.
“I want to rise up as Melissa did in her life. She always rose up above the situation and would not allow herself to be sunk by words, by unkindness.”
Maggie mentioned the “joy” has not returned to their lives since McDevitt’s disappearance and the whole household is “struggling.”
In an emailed assertion, Sooke RCMP mentioned McDevitt’s case is lively and police are in shut contact with the household, in addition to search and rescue groups. McDevitt is described as 5 ft tall with a slim construct and “children’s-sized” ft, weighing 105 kilos.
She has alopecia and could also be sporting a wig, or have quick dyed, rainbow-coloured hair, police mentioned. Anyone with data on her whereabouts is requested to name 250-995-7654, extension 1. Anyone who sees her is requested to stick with her and name 911.
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